Sheessh, the weather has been such a bummer. I left a rainy Seattle last Friday and returned from a few days in sunny Palm Springs to more rain.

This gray spring, I’ve noticed more than ever that a positive life-work balance doesn’t just happen. It can be so easy to get lost in work when the weather doesn’t call you to play. I’ve had to make an effort to feel gratitude for the non-work things that are already “sunny” and vibrant in my life.

I see that the more external factors are out of my control, the more I should pay attention to developing internal resiliency and cheerfulness. I admit, this hasn’t been easy lately. I’ve gotten so absorbed by getting my new website up and running that I’ve let my life-work balance get out of whack. Exercise wasn’t getting the attention it needed. Eating right wasn’t first on my priority list. Even my husband felt my attention wane. Sound familiar?

When you put all your energy into one life area you can get narrow-sighted and your energy can actually narrow until the flow is cut off. You can begin expecting that one area to pay you back for all your efforts. Yet, that’s not how life works or the law of attraction works. Be too needy of a particular result and it most likely won’t happen. Life is most in flow when we give and take in multiple areas of our lives with joy and balance and faith. And, I’m not talking multi-tasking here.If you’re anything like me you’re much happier and productive when your life feels balanced.

Here are few tips for reclaiming your life/work balance:

1. Take time out of your day to just BE. Stop all the DOING for five or ten minutes or more. I work at home, so I stop to play with the dog in the yard at least once a day. Last week that meant that I got to enjoy the very brief period when the cherry blossoms fall like snow. Magical!
2. Get radical and go in the opposite direction. If it’s been all work for weeks and months, take a day (at the very least) for all play. Commit to it! Enjoy a day with a friend. Go on a picnic with your loved ones. Plan a weekend meditation retreat. Step away from what is over-absorbing you. For instance, to get my life-work balance back, I needed to let go and immerse myself into total relaxation — or as much as can be gained in two days. Swimming in a salt water pool off a brilliant green golf course with the pink desert mountains as a backdrop was just the thing.
3. Mindfully change your energy flow. Working single-mindedly can actually create an energetic block to getting the results you desire. Step away from your project to invite in “energetic breathing room.” Put your attention on another area of your life — your relationships, your health, your spirit. When you come back to work you won’t feel so stale.

Radiance and love.