It’s been over 25 years now since I started working with families.  I’ve built my work-life balance training classes around the concepts of defining values and developing skills and strategies.  Lately, I’ve begun research on the meaning of spirituality and how it affects work-life balance.

It all started when the National Council of Churches contacted me for a training manual for practitioners on spiritual concepts and work-life balance strategies.  At first, I wasn’t sure how this would fit in with my current work.  Then, simultaneously, my own personal life began to change.  My mother died, which was a deep tragedy that caused me stop work for a while and think about the meaning of her life and lessons learned.  Then my husband and I traveled to India and Nepal.  The spiritual influences were strong enough to make me want to pursue this idea of spirituality and how it fits in daily with our lives.

For the sake of this article, spirituality is defined as Jack Hawley,Reawakening the Spirit, says it, “a goal meant for the individual--contains elements such as love, belief, and so forth. It is a private journey, containing elements of all religions and focused on oneself and personal inquiry--an inner search for deeper meaning.”

As work and family demands grow in this ever-changing culture, our personal life needs more nourishment than ever to cope with the demands.  Strategies such as household management and skills such as effective communication are not enough to keep individuals focused and able to make wise choices.

When work-life conflicts arise, we need a better way to determine how to handle them.  The decisions must come from deep inside a person’s  value systems and those value systems must be based and supported by something strong and enduring--such as spiritual principles.  When we can use them, the decisions become easier and the path to a more balanced life is more clearly defined.

First, define your spiritual principles and determine how they can be integrated into your daily life.  For example, if love, truth, integrity, patience, kindness are strong spiritual principles for you, you can use them to help you with daily struggles for balance.

Getting started is never easy but here are a few ideas to help you put spirituality to action in small ways:

·         At home, get up 5 minutes earlier for a quiet meditative time.  Focus on your breath.  Read a poem or prayer to help you establish the intent of your day.

·         At work, leave your desk at lunchtime.  Take some time to walk and get revived.  Plan to leave on time three times during the week.  Use your communication skills to negotiate and work things out with your supervisor and coworkers. 

·         Be more forgiving of others at work and at home.

·         Look for the good things in others even when they make unnecessary demands on your time.

·         Be positive and believe that there are always answers to difficult questions.

Bonnie Michaels is a work-life expert, speaker and co-author of Upside:  How to Zig When Life Zags, www.upsidethebook.com, andA Journey of Work-Life Renewal: The Power to Recharge & Rekindle Passion in Your Life. www.mwfam.com, mwfam@aol.com, cell (847) 308-0919.