How to Create a Balanced Life: 5 Ways to Feel Calm, Grounded, and Happy
Genuine happiness is an inside job.
I repeat, genuine happiness is an inside job.
Okay, I’m glad we could get that out of the way :-)
But in all seriousness, each and every one of us on this planet, desires to live a life of peace, purpose, and joy.
At the end of the day, I believe we’re all here in this beautiful planet to attend what I like to call Earth School.
A school that provides opportunities for us each and every day to learn new aspects about ourselves, and continue to evolve into our highest and most authentically aligned expression.
One of the aspects that I feel fortunate in deeply recognizing and bringing intentional and meaningful focus towards within my own life, is personally creating one where peace is at the foundation.
Through the cultivation of certain daily practices, as well as the reframing of each and every moment into being a loving teacher, I feel inspired to speak a bit more on the power we all have to shift our perceptions.
My intention is to share what I’ve found to be the top 5 aspects to naturally create a more peaceful, grounded, happy and overall balanced life.
If by the end of reading this, you find resonance in what I’m sharing, I’d like to make one gentle request. Please share this with anyone else in your life who you feel the steps could possibly support on their path at this time. 🙏🏿
So, without further ado, let’s get things started :-)
1. Start Each Day with a Morning Gratitude Practice
Our minds are a completely clean canvas as soon as we open our eyes each AM.
I like to equate it to a completely clean white sheet of poster board paper.
Whatever we first place on that paper, creates the foundation for what everything else is being molded around.
If as soon as we wake up in the AM (before even getting out of bed), we train our minds to express deep love, gratitude, and appreciation for all the wonderful aspects we have in our lives, then that over time absorbs into the brain and body at a cellular level.
This can be a very simple but extremely impactful practice if done consistently.
“I am grateful for a peaceful night of sleep.”
“I am grateful for breathing in fresh air.”
“I am grateful for having the beautiful gift of eyesight.”
“I am grateful for loving myself.”
“I am grateful for being alive and in pristine health.”
“I am grateful for sleeping underneath the roof of a beautiful home.”
“I am grateful for the beginning of a beautiful new day.”
By just tuning into a handful of your own, ones that resonate to what you are truly most grateful for, creates an expansiveness in the body. Not only that, but it starts the day from an intentional and spiritually connected frame of mind.
Additional Tip – Turn your cell phone off or place it on ‘Do Not Disturb’ the night prior. This takes away the temptation to grab it and tune into social media or other apps, first thing in the AM. Treat part of your mornings as sacred, giving yourself the necessary time to cultivate a sense of stillness in starting it.
2. Incorporate a Daily Journal Practice
I like to call it a mind dump.
So, you’ve already expressed your love, appreciation, and gratitude to start a new beautiful day in step 1.
Nice way to start the AM (gold start for you my friend) :- )
Now it’s time to express any and everything that may be permeating in your mind in the present moment.
Did you have a dream that you’d like to recall?
Is there any experience that you feel a bit confused on that by writing it out, could be useful in gaining clarity on?
Is there anything on your heart that you may be afraid to communicate verbally, but it could be helpful writing out (in order to gracefully release any potential tension you may be holding onto around it)?
There’s no specific rhyme or rule to this, but I’ve personally found it be a very freeing practice to start each day with.
This has become such an automatic behavior for me that on days when I don’t do it, I subtly feel ‘off.’
My intention is to write no more than 2-3 pages tops (though some days it’s even less than a page).
This just helps to add a deeper sense of peace and clarity to the mind to start the day.
Additional Tip – Buy a nice quality pen and journal. I’m probably a bit bias because I write every day, but I’ve found there to be a certain level of excitement writing in my journal. It’s aesthetically pleasing to me, as it’s 100% genuine Italian leather, and each page has a nice and sturdy feel to it. Each time I see it (even at times when I’m not writing), it brings a sense of inner peace and excitement to me. I love it so much that I’ve consistently used the same one for over 5 years now (when I first began the practice of journaling). If you’d like to check mine out or consider buying it for yourself, here’s a link (shout out to the chocolate brown one, which is my personal favorite). :- )
3. Consider doing a Daily Visual Meditation
As I write presently write this, I’m sitting outside on my Macbook, bare feet on the ground, and listening to an instrumental by one of my favorite artists, Bonobo.
I’m doing so wearing my Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Bluetooth headphones.
In front of me there’s bright sunshine, with an abundance of green trees, plants, and mountains in the far background. Before putting my headphones on, I heard birds singing, and there’s a mild wind that is gently piercing through the air.
The temperature is about 85 degrees and I’m feeling grounded, peaceful, and deeply grateful for sharing what I love (writing) with you from my heart.
Prior to writing, I listened to a few songs that created goosebumps through my body, and brought tears of appreciation to my eyes.
Singing loudly with my eyes closed and rhythmically moving my body to the beat.
Arms stretched out as far as gravity will allow, and my palms openly raised up to the sky.
Why am I mentioning all this?
Can you visualize that through the words that I’m expressing?
I ask because this specific vision, and I mean down to each detail, was something that I meditated on nearly each and every morning for a period of time (where I write this from to you today, in the beautiful and peaceful mountains of Costa Rica).
However, before ever even physically being here, I could sense it, I could taste it, I could FEEL it, I could LIVE the experience.
Even when I was living in Austin, Texas prior to moving here. I was intentionally dreaming of being here, nearly each and every day.
Those dreams were cultivated by deeply quieting my mind, and allowing my heart to experience the feeling of being in this exact place I find myself today (even before ever visiting the country a single time).
There are many many different forms of meditation that are out there, and all of them somewhat have (and continue) to play a useful part in my personal life today.
One of the ones that I consistently tuned into was of the mindfully visual variety that I mentioned just above, for an average of 20-30 minutes each day.
Matter fact, here’s the exact Prosperity Guided Meditation I used nearly every single day, just over a year prior to arriving here in Costa Rica.
I found the guides voice to be very pleasant and relaxing (allowing me to go even deeper into stillness), and over time I found the visualization provided by her, to be one that I was easily able to incorporate my own unique personal vision into.
If you’re in a place where you could use a new one (or are interested in taking up the practice for yourself), try giving hers a listen and let me know what you think afterwards :- )
Pro Tip – Write out your vision too (with specific details). For some people (myself included), it’s easier to write it out first, then bring the intentional vision into form afterwards. Just like with anything else, practice makes progress. And remember, it’s important to FEEL the vision from your heart. To truly tune into it, as your vibration will align deeper to it and your actions over time will naturally lean towards the process of bringing it in.
Additional Pro Tip – When you use this form of visualized meditation, focus on seeing the outcome/big picture. Don’t get caught up or lost in the “how,” during the actual meditation itself, but again, open your heart and focus on the outcome.
4. Spend Time Outside or in Nature Everyday
Nature in itself is very grounding, and it connects us to a more centered and peaceful vibration.
When we step outside and breath fresh air into our lungs, receive sunlight, and place our bare feet on the ground, we are naturally provided with healthy compounds that only the earth can effortlessly provide.
Nature is healing, nature calms us, nature brings us back to how we evolved as human species, and most importantly, nature connects us to ourselves.
If we think back to the years of our grandparents and great-grandparents, there was a natural and more purposeful connectivity of us human beings to nature.
It was just a normal part of everyday life.
Eating food from nature is a part of connecting with nature too.
And when we create a practice of mindfully spending time outside, we allow ourselves to elevate every DNA cell in our body’s physiology.
Have you ever heard of epigenetics?
I’m not going too much time discussing it’s meaning here, but it provides proof that our genes are able to changed, depending on the environment we create around ourselves.
This goes for the same with neuroplasticity, which is comparable to epigenetics (though It’s specifically centered on the brains malleable ability to ‘change,’ depending on new neural connections).
I’ll be honest, and I don’t say this to brag, but I’m healthier now at the age of 35 then I’ve been at any other point in my life.
I played a year of college basketball right after high school.
I’ve ran two marathons.
And I’ve tried a multitude of diets throughout the years (including vegetarian, vegan, paleo, keto, and raw foods).
However, presently, in this exact moment, I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. Period.
I’m healthier than when I was running 20-25 miles a week.
I’m healthier than when I was playing competitive basketball in high school and college.
I’m healthier than when I was super rigid and restrictive in adopting a specific eating philosophy.
I turn 36 later this year and I have more energy, sleep better, have more peace of mind, and the overall quality of my life is higher than it’s ever been before. Period.
And you know what it’s come from, a large part of it is from the four steps I’ve mentioned above.
However, there is one last aspect, which I believe is crucial in creating a more balanced, calm, and grounded life.
5. Do What You Love
This isn’t going to be very long, as I believe it’s pretty self-explanatory.
By do what you love, I mean do the things that bring you sense of inner peace, excitement, joy, and happiness.
Not only do them, but do them often.
Orchestrate your entire life around them.
Surround yourself with other people who are doing what they love and living purposeful lives.
Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be better.
Do professional work that taps into your unique skills and heart.
Work that you deep down know that you love (and can of course be paid for).
Surround yourself with big dreamers, thinkers, and most importantly, doers.
Individuals who talk to the talk, and walk the walk.
Individuals who have a track record of approaching fear and gracefully moving through it.
Individuals who are authentic, treat others with compassionate respect, and truly believe that we live in an abundant world with a vast amount of resources.
And most importantly (surround yourself with mentors who are in place where you may desire to be yourself). Reach out to them, connect with them.
Offer them value and openly share your appreciation for them.
Support them, be open and share what you feel led to from a place of heartful service.
Form a tribe of others who are likeminded and are dedicated to living a peaceful, calm, and grounded life.
As by inviting yourself to harness the intention of doing so, you’ll naturally gravitate towards those who do. This allows for even more purposeful connectivity, and the opportunity to create even more space in the powerful sharing, of your unique gifts with the world.
With Love,
Brandon