Life Balance--How Full is Your Bucket?

I love the power of analogy. In that vein, let's think of your life energy as a bucket of water.   All of us have a bucket of water and the goal is to keep the water at about the same level.  The water that comes in is from the activities/people that give to us,  that feed our souls and lift us up (e.g. supportive family and friends, hobbies, joyful events etc.).  The water that goes out is to the activities/people that we give to (e.g. our job, our kids, our responsibilities etc.).  So if we have a good balance between the things that give to us (water in) and the things we give to (water out) our water bucket stays about the same level.

The key is paying attention to our bucket and noticing when it is getting too low.  When it is too low that means we either need to find a way to add water or we need to cut back on the water that is going out. As with everything the key is awareness.  With women in particular, this exercise is a challenge.  As I have said before, many of my female clients walk around with a very low amount of water in their bucket.  One of my client stated she always just had the belief that her bucket was smaller so she didn't need as much water as everyone else--a common belief but not true.  We all have the same size buckets and we all need to be paying attention to how full it is.  Water in water out--energy in energy out.

 A few years ago I had a very full social life--I had dinner plans every night and was always 'out' doing something.  I was single at the time and had the belief that I couldn't just sit at home (even though I secretly longed for it) I had to get out there and be social.  Then one day I realized--I am not really enjoying these dinners--overall they were just a water drain.  Most of the time the dinner was just a chance for the person to get free counseling.  So I was spending all day working and draining my water and then my during evenings having more water drained. My bucket was empty.  As with most people once I had the awareness I decided to make some changes and cut out all the plans with people that weren't adding to my water bucket and began engaging in activities and with people that added to my bucket.  What a difference!!  Talk about living happier!!

My challenge to you--how full is your bucket?  Are there activities that you engage in that drain too much of your water?  What are the activities/people that could add more water to your bucket? What changes do you need to make to maintain your bucket's water level?