Providing Advice - What You Need to Know

Like millions of others, has your world been turned upside down? Have your responsibilities at work and at home escalated and the time you used to have for yourself been depleted? The old norms just aren’t working and everywhere you turn someone is trying to provide you advice on how to live your life.

What you need to know - is that advice provided by well-meaning others is not a “one-size fits all.” Just because they have provided you advice, both wanted and unwanted doesn’t mean you should take it or will help you. And if you are on the giving end be aware that the advice you are providing might work for you but not the recipient.

Providing good advice should result in less stress, improved well-being, more productivity and prosperity, not just your opinion on how to do something your way.
Do small things keep building up like medical issues keep cropping up, stress related to current clients or family issues and not sleeping well? If this sounds like you, know that you can do something about it and get back on track. Use Feng Shui principles, they are about creating balance in your life and focusing positive energy on areas that need improvement.

The Advice You Need to Know

Discover what’s going on behind the scenes. You can’t get better unless you know what is causing all this “stuff” to happen. Look at the following five areas of your life to see what is causing your personal energy to deplete and disengage allowing you to be discouraged and disconnected. Be wary of the advice others give you if it doesn’t help you improve in some way in the following categories.
Physical Health Review your physical well-being regularly. Is your body performing on a half empty tank, a flat tire or in need of a tune-up? The physical body requires daily nourishment and exercise. Re-evaluate how you care for your physical body - is there something missing or are you eating out too much or too many junk foods? Should you take nutritional supplements, do you exercise daily, how long has it been since your last physical check-up? Have you overlooked something your physical body needs to thrive? Good advice would be “take care of your body so it can take care of you.”

Left and Right Brian Activities Are you unbalanced by being stuck in one side of your brain? Left and right brain variety and activity is essential to a balanced, energized life. Do you spend most of your time on the logical left side of the brain? Do you work with numbers, quotas, schedules, computers and technical things? Create balance by doing activities with the right side of the brain, such as creative writing, painting, sewing, sculpting, knitting, crocheting and dancing, just to name a few. If your work primarily uses the creative right side of the brain, balance it with left-brained activities like mind games (Sudoku, crosswords and word find puzzles) and even physical activities such as tennis, golf, etc. Good advice would be “deliberately participate in left and right brain activities to create balance – you choose the how and what.”

Socialize Do not overlook the important role social activities play in your well-being. Everyone needs varying amounts of social interaction to maintain balance. This does not include Social Media. You need face to face in-person contact with others to create balance. Deliberately add social events to your calendar, especially those including uplifting people. Experiment until you find the right mix of activities – it will restore your productivity and outlook on life. If you are a party animal, bring more balance to your life by limiting your number of social events. If you have too many of the wrong type of social events on your calendar, participate only in those that encourage you and uplift your spirits. Good advice would be “add some appropriate social activities if you have none or if you have too many eliminate some of them to create balance.”

Emotional Health Emotion health is often overlooked and very important for re-energizing and restoring your positive energy. If your emotional well is dry, it is very easy for “stuff” to happen and constantly re-occur. Are you hanging onto negative thoughts and events from the past – they drain your emotions and lead to discouragement, distraction and pessimistic thinking. Try this Feng Shui energizing technique:

• Place something in the northeast corner of your desk or office (after you’ve uncluttered that space) that reminds you of a very joy-filled, encouraging and inspiring time in your life. It could be a picture of you graduating, receiving an award or even a toy from childhood.

• Second, take one hour of your day to read something inspirational or motivational. It can be old favorites like The Power of Positive Thinking, the Bible, or a book of uplifting quotes. It can be new favorites like The Secret or Your Best Life Now. Good advice would be “fill your emotional well to overflowing so you can get past the re-occurring negative “stuff” and restore your energy.”
Spiritual Health Besides your physical and emotional health, your heart and soul also need nurturing and nourishing. Spiritual emptiness often accompanies a dry emotional well. All it takes is 15 minutes every night before going to bed to quiet your heart and mind; dim the lights and light a candle in a safe container. Place the candle in the eastern area of the room to shed light onto and energize new beginnings. Spend the next 15 minutes reflecting on an inspirational or motivational message you may have read in the morning. Or simply allow your mind to become totally silent – you will be amazed at what you hear in the silence. This will nurture and re-energize your spiritual side. You can also meditate and visualize successfully balancing all five aspects of your life coming into alignment. Good advice would be “choose your ideal method nurturing your spiritual self so you will be reenergized and restored to complete balance.”

Good advice would be good only if it has your best interests at heart. Good advice should be all about helping you to be balanced physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually. The more balanced your life is, the less “stuff” happens. And when it does happen, it will be much less stressful.

Treat yourself as you are and you will stay as you are. Treat yourself as you want to be and you will become who and what you want to be.

© Pat Heydlauff, all rights reserved 2011