Discover Your Internal Blueprint to Build the Life Your Desire

Posted on Balanced Mind and Soul | February 10, 2012 | No Comments

By guest author Dr. Sean Sullivan

learn to see your waking dreams

You wake up, you eat breakfast, follow several hygiene rituals and then you start your day. You go to work or study; you take care of your kids or work on a passion project; you go from one project to the next one all day long. Are you making steps to build the life YOU desire every minute of your day?

Surprising as it may seem, each action during the day (regardless of how big or small it is) shapes your future and your life story. Every day we live according to our “Internal Blueprint”. That’s the term I’ve come to use to discuss the story we each maintain to account for our lives. Our Internal Blueprint is also a way of imagining what we would like to see our lives become.

As a psychologist, I learn all about each of my patient’s unique “Internal Blueprint.” I spend hours with patients unraveling how particular aspects of an Internal Blueprint came to guide their lives. When I’m writing, I often focus on how you can come to know your Internal Blueprint on your own.

I’ve discovered that it comes as a surprise to a lot of people that you actually can listen in on, and learn to “see,” your thoughts. These are powerful tools that psychologists have been learning to harness for a long time now. We’ve discovered that mastering these types of skills gives you a lot more influence over your experience of life. Balance it more »

How to Buy Healthy Groceries on a Budget – #HEBC 3

Posted on Balanced Body, Balanced Nutrition | February 7, 2012 | 6 Comments

By Anastasiya Goers

Healthy eating starts with healthy grocery shopping.

Saving money starts with cheap grocery shopping.

Can they be combined into one list without sacrifices to your health or the health of your bank account?

Healthy grocery shopping on a budget starts with a thought-out , timely and organized grocery list. Do you make lists when you go shopping? What do they look like?

I was browsing the Internet the other day and found the funniest website – The Grocery List Collection.

The author collects lost groceries lists and then puts them on his website. Some look pretty normal (diced tomatoes, spaghetti, soap etc.) while others just make you wonder what food that person was planning to fix.

My personal favorite from the website (written on a Disney Princesses sticky note):

Candy
Candy
Candy
Candy
Candy
Candy
Candy

I think they forgot gingerbread to finish their house. Balance it more »

“It’s tradition!” – How to Balance between the Old and the New

Posted on Balanced Lifestyle | February 4, 2012 | 7 Comments

By contributor Noch Noch

traditional Chinese wedding

I nearly choked on the tea I was drinking. Just because it’s tradition and therefore it should be done? I wasn’t too convinced.

As with many things in life, I find tradition slightly suffocating at times, and try always to break through, or innovate. Yet, not every new ritual is easily accepted. Every day we face a choice of following what has already been done, versus what we would like to do. Even in writing a blog post, do we follow guidelines established over the years, or weave sentences the way we want?

Just how do we find a balance between the old and the new?

Blatantly, I dismissed my friend’s remark with a shrug, silently murmuring to myself at how boxed up her thoughts are. I wore the gown for some pre-wedding photos with my fiancé. In fact, he had seen photos of the gown and “approved” of my purchase even when I was shopping for a gown, as he’s a man steeped in the fashion industry.

I was quite happy. But still my friend’s remark lingers at the back of my mind as we plan for our wedding in May.

Raised in Hong Kong, and having lived all over the world, I bring with me Chinese traditions and an understanding of international ones. My fiancé is from Australia, and obviously there are practices to be respected from down under. I wonder then, when do we follow traditions, and when do we not? Balance it more »

15 Healthy Breakfasts on a Budget – #HEBC 2

Posted on Balanced Nutrition | February 1, 2012 | 11 Comments

By Anastasiya Goers

How does your breakfast look?

Often we are not hungry when we wake up. If we are trying to lose some weight we decide “I’ll just skip my breakfast. This way I will avoid at least 300 calories which will get me closer to my ideal weight.” (I know I made this mistake in the past.)

Unfortunately this diet strategy works completely against you. It makes you eat more during lunch and later that day, it also makes you crave high-energy (read: high in fat and refined carbs) foods. It also makes you moody and irritated.

Even those who are not trying to lose weight are still losing out when they skip breakfast. In the morning our bodies are getting out of the nighttime fast (just think about it, night is the longest period of starving for our body.) By afternoon glycogen supplies (molecules that work as primary energy sources for the body) start to deplete. By lunch you start feeling fatigued, you lose your focus and the ability to think fast and make decisions. Usually in this state you reach for a cup of coffee with a high-carb treat which makes your blood sugar levels shoot out of the roof only making you even more fatigued in an hour or so.

Here are just a few quick facts why a balanced breakfast is so important: Balance it more »

How to Make Healthy Eating Personal -#HEBC 1

Posted on Balanced Body, Balanced Nutrition | January 27, 2012 | 18 Comments

By Anastasiya Goers

What is healthy eating? Even though this question seems simple the answers will vary greatly depending on who you ask. No wonder that eating healthy becomes very confusing for a normal person like you or me.

There are plenty of theories about healthy eating nowadays but most of them won’t work for you. A diet/nutrition plan created without consideration of your preferences, goals, budget and simple likes/dislikes is just a waste of time.

I personally don’t like turnips and celery and there is no way that I can tolerate anything slimy in nature (like boiled okra or runny eggs…yuck!) If somebody told me that I had to eat those items every day to stay healthy I would say “Forget it!”

If you want to create a healthy diet that you can stick to then you need to answer the following questions:

1. What is your budget?

Do you know how much you spend on food monthly? How much would you like to spend ideally?

In August I decided for the first time to track my monthly expenses. The number shocked me (to say the least!) Writing down every little thing that we were paying for made me realize how many useless purchases we were making (especially for food.) Obviously, eating out was the biggest problem but even grocery shopping was way too high for our family. In January we managed to cut our grocery expenses by 56% and I am very satisfied with the result. Balance it more »

About

Hello,
my name is Anastasiya Goers and I've been actively pursuing a balanced and happy life for the last 8 years. Over these years I have learned a lot and changed a lot. I have become a fitness instructor, a healthy person, a grad school graduate, a wife, a runner, a mother of twin-girls, a housewife, an employee, unemployed and finally self-employed, a blogger, a Pilates instructor, and at last a balanced person.
"Balance" has become the motto of my life and Balance In Me has become a place where I share simple tips for balanced living with anybody willing to bring a little bit of harmony in their lives. Get to know me better here.