While looking for balance in life, what you are really looking for is basically the experience of five things. You can call them feelings or emotions. They are basic qualities all human beings look for and here we will be talking about this wonderful idea Brian Bacon had on how to get them.

Which qualities? Satisfaction, Comfort, Contentment, Fulfilment and Bliss.

When you meet that point where your career correspond to your own passion, you are able to satisfy your life completely. That means, you will take so much joy from that work that you will feel it is really worth to wake up, get up and do that everyday. On the other hand, you can do well in a job without passion, but you will always want to have more of something else, that is, your passion will take you, or try to take you, somewhere else.

The feeling of comfort in the heart and mind comes when your career allows you to do charity too. That is the case of many consultants and coaches that I know, who use their jobs to help the world somehow. It is true; you do feel a kind of "I am really helping these people". If you just work and earn money, without using that for others in an altruistic way, that feeling won't come and you will be restless. If you do charity to others, but that charity does not help you in other areas of life, you will be disheartened at some point.

Beyond satisfaction there is contentment, the feeling that you don't need anything else, you just are! That comes when your acts of charity meet your vocation... That is much more than comfort, it is a supreme feeling that you are doing something important for the world. You have found your own truth in life. If you know your vocation but you don't apply that in charity, then you will do well, but you will feel you are still looking for something.

Beyond contentment, you have fulfilment in life - that is, you are in the right place doing the right things with the right heart and mind. This comes when your vocation and passion meet on the way. All of us have a call, but few of us have the passion for that, enough energy that enables us to break all bondages and do what we are really supposed to do.

Then, when you have the experience of all of that, you reach bliss in life. That is balance, when you are always smiling, your mind is always positive and your actions are constantly meaningful.

This is for your thoughts. Take care.

Four main factors in life

Life is a long, very long quest. But, one day, the quest is over and you will find the reason for your life here.

Finding does not mean it is over, but at least you have an idea on what to do. From that point, you will have to go deeper and deeper, broader and broader, higher and higher.

I personally feel it is very important to understand four of the main factors that move life: Passion, Vocation, Charity and Career. According to Brian Bacon, those will take you to the experience of balance in life.

• Passion - when you love something and know how to do it well, there is passion in the way you do, move, talk and think about whatever it is. Passion is the fire that allows you to tap your energy and go beyond the limitations at the time of doing something.
• Vocation - when what you love matches the needs of the world, that is the point for your own call. We live in a time when people work because they must not because they like. Sometimes it is important to talk to yourself and check what is your real vocation, and follow that call in your life; if Passion is fire, Vocation is the pipe that focus Passion.
• Charity - as a human, you need to give something without reward. That can be called altruism, and according to each one's values it will show in a different way. Charity comes when your talents and skills, those the world would pay for it, meet the needs of that world. When that happens, it is not that you are doing something for free, rather than that you are fulfilling your own destiny and purpose in life.
• Career - as a human, you need to give something and receive its reward. It is important to receive the fruit of the seeds you have sown, because no human is completely altruist. The right recipe for a good and successful career is based on understanding what you do well and match that with what the world will pay for.

Just remember balance comes from all those four. If you are a very charitable person, but your career is a failure, or you are satisfying your passion but avoiding your call, then you won't experience integral success.

Think about this very deeply.

We will finish this topic on our next post.

Balance in life

By Brian Bacon, the bliss of balance

Do you agree with this idea?

Brian is a good friend of many years, he is the founder of Oxford Leadership Academy, a company to which I am linked (and doing my best to start it in Colombia).

Take a look and think about it. See you next post.