A Gift Every Mother Deserves

Posted on Balanced Lifestyle, Balanced Parenting | May 9, 2013 | No Comments

By Anastasiya Goers

No, it’s not a coffee-maker.

No, it’s not a bracelet charm.

No, it’s not a trip to a spa (ok, I personally wouldn’t turn that one down.)

But let’s take a break from guessing for a second and talk about Mom and everything that she does.

(Not a Mom but looking for a present for Mom? Skip to the bottom to see the ultimate gift that every Mom deserves.)

• The job of a Mom is a 24-hour commitment that can’t be measured with flowers, kitchen appliances or chocolates.
• Being a Mom means giving yourself to the ones you love the most without expecting anything in return (okay, maybe a clean room and a little help with the dishes could be expected at some point.)
• It’s the most demanding job in the world. At the same it’s the most satisfying one too, don’t you agree?
• Mom is the most WANTED person in the world because:
  -newborns want to be fed and held,
  -toddlers want to be played with and have to be watched constantly!
  -school-age children want help with their homework or money for a new gadget that everybody in their class already has;
  -husband wants at least a couple of minutes a day to cuddle and to “reclaim” his wife (not a feeding, cleaning and cooking machine.)

But what does it all leave Mom with? Exhaustion. Feeling of inner chaos. And of course immeasurable love for every person in her household.

Work-life balance is the topic most searched for by the readers of BalanceInMe. But is there work-life balance for Mom? Balance it more »

7 Non-Standard Rules for Success

Posted on Work/Life Balance | May 7, 2013 | 6 Comments

By guest author Roman Soluk

When entering into adulthood, you find a catch: not everything that you learn at school is useful. Hard working is not a sign of good work, and it’s almost useless to learn from the mistakes of others. Success often reaches people going against the rules. So, today I provide you several non-standard principles of achieving success, which are not taught at school.

7 Non-standard rules for achieving success

1. Fears are useless
Just imagine how much energy and emotions you spend on pointless worries about something that will never happen. Let’s be honest: you can not prevent everything. And your anxiety is certainly not going to help. If you are afraid of exotic flu – get vaccinated, you are afraid of accidents on the roads – use a subway.
Remember that anxious people are more susceptible to diseases and more likely to feel miserable – even when there are no real reasons for worries.

2. Laziness is useful
There’s no laziness at all. There is either a lack of motivation – and that means that you are facing the goals you’re no interested in. Then why do you need them? Or there’s the lack of energy – in this case, you have to go on a vacation or to the doctor. Everyday laziness can be anything from the need to rest, because the brain is overloaded and can not operate effectively, to the symptoms of illness. Balance it more »

Breathe Your Way to Brain Balance

Posted on Balanced Body, Balanced Mind and Soul | April 11, 2013 | 2 Comments

By guest author Molly Larkin

Have you been seeking a “fountain of youth?” If so, you will be pleased to know it lies within you, just a breath away, with a breathing technique to balance your brain.

My story

Some years ago I was a passenger in my boyfriend’s car when he rear-ended the car in front of him, and we were immediately struck from behind.

The force of the impact propelled my body so hard into the shoulder belt it literally knocked the air out of me, leaving me gasping for breath.

My boyfriend, trying to take the focus off his having caused the accident, decided it would be a good idea to make fun of my distress and started making pretend gasping sounds himself.

Needless to say, I was neither comforted nor amused.

Eventually my breath came back; and not long after, the boyfriend was gone.

Until one has an experience like that, it’s easy to take the miracle of our breath for granted.

I spent the first 45 years of my life not being aware of my breathing at all. As I became more involved with yoga, spirituality and health practices, I learned that correct “abdominal breathing” is one of the keys to a healthy life.

Children do abdominal breathing automatically until, around the age of seven, they start to breathe shallowly just like most adults.

In fact, I’ve come to view abdominal breathing exercises as the fountain of youth. Let me explain why. Balance it more »

How to Live Every Minute with Maximum Purpose – Win Your Book

Posted on Balanced Mind and Soul | April 4, 2013 | 16 Comments

By guest author Robert D. Smith

Note from Anastasiya: I hope you will enjoy this excellent article but also won’t miss the chance to win a free copy of Robert D. Smith’s book 20,000 Days and Counting. You can read my honest review as well as the giveaway rules at the bottom of this post.

Keep reading!

20,000—that was the number that stared back at me after I typed my birth date into a countdown clock widget a little over three years ago.

Something moved in my spirit. I jumped out of the chair, threw some clothes in a bag, and pulled out of the driveway with no particular destination in mind.

When the time felt right, I stopped at one of The Leading Hotels of the World and booked a room with one objective in mind—planning my next 20,000 days.

Why Counting Your Days Will Make You Insanely Productive

Most of us measure our lives in years without ever really stopping to think how that might affect us.

We celebrate yearly birthdays and anniversaries.

We make New Year’s resolutions.

We divide each year into financial quarters.

But we never really stop to measure the power of a single 24-hour period of time. So often we TOTALLY overestimate what we can do in a year…while drastically underestimating what we can accomplish in the next 15 minutes. Balance it more »

The Healthy Habit: Juicing One Sip at a Time

Posted on Balanced Body, Book Reviews/Interviews | March 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

By Anastasiya Goers

I confess: Juicing has never been on my list of things to do in life.

It takes too much time.

There is too much cleanup involved.

These two factors are enough to turn me away from anything.

However, about a year ago a blogging friend of mine Farnoosh Brock asked me to read her new book about Green Juicing. I was a little skeptical but it never hurts to learn something new, I thought. I’ve been doing green juicing on and off after that (more as a hobby than a serious nutritional approach.)

Today I want to present to you Farnoosh’s new printed book (congratulations, my friend!) The Healthy Juicer’s Bible: Lose Weight, Detoxify, Fight Disease, and Live Long

If you’ve been following BalanceInMe for a while then you know that I am in the last stages of my second twin pregnancy. To give my little ones the best start in life I needed to make sure that they were getting enough vitamins and nutrients. I can’t take any prenatal vitamins (it’s a long story) so juicing seemed like the best choice.

Of course I like eating fresh veggies and fruits but there are only so many apples and carrots I can munch on during the day while still getting an adequate amount of calories to support the babies’ growth. This time around juicing was a no-brainer for me. Thankfully, I had Farnoosh to answer all of my questions and steer my on the right road to healthy juicing. Balance it more »