Living a Life of Freedom and Balance

I am a fan of Ted Talks, and now that they are available on Netflix, I try to spend at least a half an hour a day learning something new through these videos.

I recently watched a video on success by Alain de Botton: A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success.

I enjoyed this video very much, and agreed with much of it. At some point, Alain made a comment along the lines of how, whenever we choose something in which we want to succeed, we are at the same time choosing to neglect something else. While I can see truth in this statement, I also have a different perspective, from my practice of Feng Shui.


Feng Shui identifies Nine general Areas of Life:

1. Career, Life Mission and Individuality
2. Marriage, Relationships and Partnerships
3. Health, Family and Community
4. Wealth, Prosperity and Self Worth
5. Center of Good Fortune and Gratitude
6. Spirituality, Helpful People and Travel
7. Children, Creativity and Fun
8. Wisdom, Self Knowledge and Calm
9. Fame, Reputation and Social Life

All of the above Life Areas have to be tended to for a person to be truly happy, prosperous and free. However, not all these life areas have the same importance during all of the stages of our lives.


Moreover, if we dedicated the same amount of energy and time to each of these life areas at any given point in our lives, we would end up with a very unbalanced life. To give you an example, consider life area number 3: Health, Family and Community. This is a life area that you have to tend to every day, and devote at least a few hours every day to prepare/eat wholesome meals, walk or exercise a few times every week, and attend your church, clubs or organizations at least once a month to feel connected to a community. Now compare that to life area number 7: Children, Creativity and Entertainment. This is a life area that depending on the circumstances and stage in your life may take over most of your day (e.g. taking care of a baby or toddler), or just need a couple of hours a week to satisfy your need for fun or entertainment at a movie theater. Of course, ideally, you would be able to make time every day to nurture your creativity and to have fun, but these may not be realistic at certain points in our lives, say, for example, while going through a graduate program or during the first few years of a career.


The dilemma is: how to know how much time and energy need to be devoted every day to each life area in order to live a balanced life?

I don't believe there is an intellectual answer to this question. Whenever we try to give intellectual answers to the bigger questions of life we fall into the temptation of assuming that life can be lived based on recipes, instead of feeling the authenticity of each moment. I believe, however that there is an intuitive answer to this dilemma, an "inner knowing," so to speak.

For this reason, when Florida healer and artist Bill Austin and I were working on the Feng Shui Healing Book Feng Shui Cures for the Life Areas https://www.createspace.com/3464762, I asked him to create a piece of his vibrational healing art devoted to this subject. Then I placed his abstract art into the shape of a wheel. The life areas, when used in Feng Shui, are placed in an arrangement that resembles a wheel, called the bagua. I call this wheel, the Wheel of Life Areas. Below you can see an image of the Wheel of Life Areas. If you click on the image you can check out the various products available with this image:

Please visit our CafePress store Feng Shui Cures to explore 6 different products you might get for your home or office that contain this image, to assist you in your sincere intent to live a balanced and happy life.