Work/Life Balance
The work/life balance is a hot topic these days, and can even present itself as another ‘thing to do’, a goal that we should be reaching in order to qualify as a successful human. I have often felt this pressure - especially at times when I have had my head down trying to achieve something or move a creative venture forward. I realised that, for myself, I don’t need to impose such hard boundaries of ‘work’ and ‘life’ when I feel aligned and love what I do. The more my professional and personal lives harmonise, the more aware I am of my energy, my emotional state and what I need to be healthy and happy, and therefore balanced.
The quest for balance is an ongoing learning but I have discovered a few practices that help me feel a sense of balance in life:
Vision
It’s easy to go through life on auto-pilot, not really tuning into whether your daily life is aligned with your vision, aligned with what you feel is truly important and meaningful. I find it so helpful to check in with my vision regularly. In the new year I like to write down my intentions, how I want to live and what’s important to me. At other times I like to create a mood board about what I want my life to look like - for me it’s rarely material assets, but more a sense of adventure, freedom, space and silence, being in nature or with loved ones. At other times I will do a mini-visualisation meditation and imagine myself flourishing - what would that look like, feel like - allowing myself to really tune into my limitless potential.
Checking in this way definitely helps me to define what is most important to me in life, and make sure I’m living in alignment with that meaning. Rather than just being on auto-pilot and moving through life from A to B without really having a sense whether the life I’m living is the life I want to be living.
2. Spontaneity
As a perfectionist and avid list-maker, this isn’t something that comes very naturally to me. But as part of my mindfulness practice I have been making more of an effort to listen to myself. This weekend I had planned to do some work but I felt tired and lacking freshness and mental space, so instead I allowed myself the space to rest. I baked biscuits, I went for a picnic with my partner and I basically let go of my ‘to-do’ list in order to be spontaneous and nurture myself.
Of course it’s not always possible, but sometimes it’s far more fruitful to take some space, slow down and refresh - rather than push ahead with work or goals when your energy is low.
I wanted to share the biscuit recipe from the batch I just made. It’s one of my favourite recipes - super easy and they come out delicious every time. I use coconut sugar instead of refined sugar which gives them a deeper colour and rich, almost- caramel flavour.
Choc Chunk Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients
225g salted butter, cut into 1cm pieces
3/4 cup (110g) coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (375g) plain flour
150g dark chocolate (I use 70% lindt)
Flaky sea salt (or himalayan salt)
METHOD
Chop chocolate - you want to have chunks, not thin shards
Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until super light and fluffy. You can use an electric mixer if you have one, or I often beat with a fork for 5 minutes. The more you beat the mixture, the better the texture of the biscuit will be.
Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly add the flour, followed by the chocolate chunks, and beat just to blend.
4. Divide the dough in half, placing each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Using your hands (just like you’re playing with clay), form the dough into a rough log shape; then roll it in the plastic wrap on the counter until it resembles a neater log shape and the sides are smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until totally firm, about 2 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
6. Slice each log into 1.5cm-thick rounds, place them on prepared baking tray(s) about 2cm apart (they won’t spread much) and sprinkle with flaky salt.
7. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown, 12-15 minutes. Let them stand until completely cool, and then enjoy!
