After burning out in 2012, followed by years of slowly and gently getting back to full energy, vitality and vision, I’m now playing around with the idea of what a balanced, fulfilled and totally alive experience of life looks like. How do we keep it all in balance and live life to the full, when we have family, bills, endless responsibilities and demanding jobs to juggle?

Today this question is at the forefront of my mind, as I’m frantically scribbling notes and playing with words to dig deeper into my intuitive hunches and draft out some juicy plans for the next year. Book writing and getting published, breaking into the Corporate market, building my business, backpacking, deepening my learning of embodied movement, dance and divine feminine practices, wild camping and more wild swimming have all made the list … Uluru in Australia is calling me too!

I’m curious about how we can stay energised and enlivened whilst deepening our sense of fulfilment in the work we do. How do we build businesses, manage teams and continue to grow, whilst staying grounded and balanced at the same time? How do we ensure that we don’t fall into the trap of stagnation, living small, living in fear, exhaustion or mediocrity?

I almost wrote how do we stay safe whilst stepping up to meet the fullness of who we truly are in family, work, love and creative expression; then I realised that to grow we need to be constantly taking risks. Safety isn’t an option if we want to grow fully. This means speaking up  and being completely honest, both with ourselves and others. It means fierce self-love, and taking true care of our energy and deeper needs. It means saying yes when we mean yes, or saying no if that is what we mean. It means not being compliant, accommodating or selfless at the cost of our own happiness.

I remember Berne Brown saying that you can’t dull one emotion without impacting all emotions. This means that in dulling down one aspect of your life, your life force, your aliveness, your energy and your vitality also dim. And, conversely the opposite is true!

Safety, guarantees and predictability aren’t included on the map to awakening feelings of deep fulfilment, excitement and aliveness. To feel alive is to edge beyond our comfort zone.

Some questions to consider:

• What makes you feel wide awake and alive? How often are you stepping outside your comfort zone and meeting an edge in your daily life? What does your comfort zone look like? What would you love to try/experience to feel more alive? What holds you back?

• What do you do to feel balanced, energised and strong? Do you have a daily practice which tops you up? What does feeling out of balance look or feel like to you? What does your fantasy, balanced self and lifestyle look like?

• Do you feel a sense of fulfilment in the work you do? Where’s your edge in work? Do you need to step up to reach your next level of potential or do you need  change? Perhaps you need to explore what more purposeful work would look/feel like to you?

• Finally, what’s calling you from inside? What is your inner voice nudging you to explore? If you had the courage what would you do or change? Are you growing in each aspect of your life? What needs attention in order to awaken your deeper sense of aliveness? What needs to be dropped because it’s draining your life force?

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If you would like to learn more about how you can gently begin to grow and thrive and re-awaken your own sense of aliveness, check out our Harmonizing courses and events, browse our blog or sign up for our free quarterly magazine – all over at dawnbreslin.com