Purpose

What Gives Balance to Life?

March 10, 2011 /

If you ask most people what is most important to them in life, they will probably say love, family, happiness, peace of mind, money, success, appreciation, recognition, health etc. The sad part of it is that many don’t have these things in their life. As strange as it may sound, you can have all of them and still not have a balanced and fulfilled life. The purpose of this article is to discuss what gives balance to life.

Those who seem to have it all

I watched the last concert Elvis Presley had only shortly before his death; he announced the last song and it was “Are you lonesome tonight?” and then he said an amazing thing, he said, “I have been lonely and I am lonely” and his voice kind of broke as he said it. Wow! One of the most successful entertainers of all time who had a beautiful live in girlfriend at the time and who had people at his beck and call 24/7 and he was lonely?

An online marketer said recently, “I know an extremely savvy businesswoman who made almost a million dollars online last year. Every entrepreneur I know considers her to be wildly successful.  But guess what?  A few days ago, out of the blue, she told me that she’s depressed.  Why?”  “I’m burnt out and lonely.  I just haven’t taken enough time for myself lately,” she said.  “Wow!” I thought.  “One of the most successful people I know isn’t happy.”

Over the years I’ve seen many of Elizabeth Taylor’s films and always thought she was a great actor. However even with her great accomplishments as as an actress and her fame and wealth she never seemed to be able to have a satisifying life because of health problems, failed marriages and addictions. As reported in her death announcement today March 22, “Her ailments wore down the grudges. She underwent at least 20 major operations and she nearly died from a bout with pneumonia in 1990. In 1994 and 1995, she had both hip joints replaced, and in February 1997, she underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. In 1983, she acknowledged a 35-year addiction to sleeping pills and pain killers. Taylor was treated for alcohol and drug abuse problems at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, Calif.”

I heard the last interview that billionaire Howard Hughes ever gave; he came out of hiding long enough to deny that he had authorized a biography about his life. The last question the reporter asked Mr. Hughes was, “Mr. Hughes, are you happy?” After a little hesitation, Mr. Hughes, who at one time was the richest man in the world, replied, “NO I’m not happy”!

So what is the problem?

I think in one word it would be “balance”. It takes a combination of things in the proper balance to give the overall feeling of wellbeing. The things mentioned in the first paragraph above are all very crucial but not everything.

I have thought very carefully about this subject and pulled from my own experiences to come up with the best answer as to what constitutes a balanced life. I have decided that there is hardly ever a perfect balance and balance is never static.

For example, Life may seem to be in very good balance and suddenly a health problem comes along and then all seems to be out of balance or the loss of a mate can extremely upset the balance which can take years to restore if ever; a loss of income, retirement funds etc can severely upset the balance.

Understanding how we are made

There is something that we need to understand about ourselves and that is how we are made up. We are in fact a threefold being: body, soul and spirit and even though things might be well in one or two of these areas but not in all, there  is an unbalance. An example would be a beautiful woman with a great shapely and healthy body, all is great as for as body is concerned. I think Marylyn Monroe is a good case in point. Outward she was gorgeous but in her soul she was deeply troubled (The soul is also three parts: mind, will and emotions). Marylyn had some deep seated emotional problems that kept her from a balanced life and therefore a happy life.

It is also possible to have a beautiful, healthy body and be strong emotionally and yet be unbalanced. Since the spirit is not something we see, it is easy to overlook in the scheme of things. Perhaps you have often wondered why a person who seemed to have it all: beauty, fame, money and recognition and yet were desperately unhappy even to the point sometimes of taking their own life. Why?

At least a third of a balanced life comes from the spiritual side and I believe it goes way past a third. I believe that being in balance spiritually can actually compensate for poor health, lack of money and even great losses.

So how does one get the spiritual side in balance? I know that not all will want to agree with me on this point because some have a different take on spiritually but if you believe that God created man in his own image and designed him to relate to him through spirit, (God is spirit so to relate to him we must relate through our spirit.) then you can see why we have a problem. The big problem here is that because of sin man is separated from God and has no relationship with him.

That being the case it means even at our best we are at least one third out of balance because of our spiritual needs. How then can a person get the spiritual in balance with God? I’m glad you asked because that is indeed the key to a balanced life and without it there may be some balance but far short of what it could be.

God’s formula for a fulfilled life

God made it easy for us; his formula is as simple as A, B, C. First of all God recognized that man was separated from him spiritually because of sin and he designed a way to remedy it at a very high cost to him. He came to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ; He sacrificed his life on a cross; he was buried in a tomb; he resurrected from the grave on the third day and later ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father.

The “A” in God’s formula is to accept that Jesus did indeed die for man’s sins and accept that he arose from the grave. If you find this hard to accept, I will say that you already accept things that are equally or harder to accept.

The “B” is for “believe”. Are you willing to believe that God wants you to have fellowship with him through your spirit and believe that Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is the means of restoring that fellowship; if so tell him that you believe?

The “C” is for “confession”. This includes another term, “repentance”. When we confess that we are sinners and that we are out of fellowship with God because of it and repent or turn from our sinful lifestyle to him to follow him, then he will forgive us and accept us as his own children to be with him forever.

If you are interested in this and want a step by step guide, please go to www.otobefree.com.

Now I speak from experience:

Even though my life has been out of balance many times concerning the physical body and the soul, (mind, will and emotions) my relationship with God through my spiritual side has compensated and I have found my life to be fulfilling even when the going was rough otherwise. You also can have this balance in your life if you are willing; I hope that you are; what a difference it makes! www.otobefree.com.

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Who Is Jimmie Burroughs?

Jimmie Burroughs has been involved in teaching Personal Development off and on for more than 30 years.

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