Welcome, July!!! As we enter the fun months of summer, finally, we are diving into the concept of Harmony. What does harmony mean to you? For me, it means congruity and the arrangement of things or parts of our lives. Oftentimes, we get captivated by the idea of balance instead of harmony. Balance is promoted all over social media as the way to find peace and joy in life. But, let me tell you a secret, balance is extremely difficult to achieve and it does not guarantee peace or joy. What does harmony look like? Today, I have 3 questions to help show you how to create harmony in your life.
Think of it this way… if your life was a pie and you divided all of your time with balance in mind, you’d be working for 7 hours a day and then resting for 7 hours a day – this is what balance means, a state of equal distribution. You and I know, that life isn’t an equal distribution at all! It’s chaos, multiple demands on your time and attention, throwing out your schedule for a crisis, and being pulled in so many directions that finding the right side up can be a challenge.
So in the midst of all the mess that we call life, what does harmony look like?
What is it that you need, want, or desire?
It’s hard to create harmony in your life when you don’t fully understand your needs, wants, or desires – it’s like asking someone to arrange your fridge when they don’t know what type of foods you like or buy, they can pick out some staples but then don’t have a clue. Your needs, wants, and desires aren’t a shopping list you can find on Instagram – it is a personal cultivated list of what your heart needs to feel connected and full of life. Knowing what you need, want, and desire is vital in working on harmony in your life, otherwise, you’ll end up chasing someone else’s dream for you instead of your own dream.
Here are some journaling questions to get you started: When you think about what lights your heart on fire, what need is it meeting? What do you need to feel connection and belonging? What do you want for yourself and your future?
How do all of these things collaborate together?
When you have your compiled list of needs, wants, and desires consider how they all collaborate together. There is a relationship between all the pieces on this list – the main connecting point is you and your uniqueness. Rarely will you find needs that are competing in a way that they can’t be addressed at the same time, mainly because it all comes back to you. If you do find needs, wants, and desires that are not aligned, then you might want to ask yourself if it was gifted to you by another person or not. We tend to take on other people’s ideas of what we ‘should’ need, want, or desire and see it as our own, but in reality, it’s a gift we didn’t ask for.
How can they be rearranged to work in your life at this moment? (and this will need to be renegotiated)
Harmony comes when we can address and arrange our needs, wants, and desires in a way that makes sense, at this moment in time. It’s not a ‘one and done’ kind of exercise – this is lifelong negotiation and renegotiation as there are competing demands on your time and attention. The goal is to make sure all the pieces remain on the table as you rearrange the pieces to fit over and over again.
Harmony is a difficult place to live in full-time – it’s more of a magical place you find yourself in, bask in the beauty of it all the while knowing you will have to rearrange the pieces once your life goes through some changes. And let’s face it, life is in a constant state of flux and change. But this doesn’t mean it’s not worth working on – it’s quite the opposite, harmony is worth every single second you give it… it has the greatest reward!
Connect with us on Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook for more great mental health content!
