I recently read a book in a record 6 hours! Now, getting a cool spare 6 hours to just read and do nothing else is kind of unheard of in my world. But when a book is interestingly written and has short chapters of two and a half pages each, it becomes “unputdownable” and in which case I had no option but to lose myself in it, forget about eating, doing laundry and feeding the cat I don’t have.
Anyway, something in that book tugged at my heartstrings. Something that had to do with five balls that read…
“Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls—family, health, friends, integrity—are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life” ~ From Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson.
In my life journey (which has everything to do with the 5 balls), I struggle with balance every single day and when I read that small but important paragraph I thanked my book picking skills which had allowed me to pick that particular book, on that particular day. Then I remembered this little column that I write for my happy people (Thanks for reading BTW) with whom I love sharing new and inspiring findings about life.
The paragraph from the book also somehow reminded me of this list about the things you have to stop doing to yourself that I came across on Facebook sometime back which just about sums up everything when it comes to living a fulfilled, happy life and achieving balance with the things that matter in life.
The 30 things you need to stop doing to yourself.
1.Stop spending time with the wrong people
2.Stop running from your problems
3.Stop lying to yourself
4.Stop putting your own needs on the back burner
5.Stop trying to be someone you’re not
6.Stop trying to hold on to the past
7.Stop being scared to make a mistake
8.Stop berating yourself for old mistakes
9.Stop trying to buy happiness
10.Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness
11.Stop being idle
12.Stop thinking you’re not ready
13.Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons
14.Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work
15.Stop trying to compete against everyone else
16.Stop being jealous of others
17.Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself
18.Stop holding grudges
19.Stop letting others bring you down to their level
20.Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others
21.Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break
22.Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments
23.Stop trying to make things perfect
24.Stop following the path of least resistance
25.Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t
26.Stop blaming others for your troubles
27.Stop trying to be everything to everyone
28.Stop worrying so much
29.Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen
30.Stop being ungrateful
You will never get a chance for a do over when it comes to living your life but you can think about the lessons of the 5 balls and decide what you can work on and what you need to do away with.