What is a balance life..

I was told that the latest craze in Japan are books writing about having a balance life.  What is a balance life ? It is very subjective and only apply to working husband or wife.  Is 50% of our time at work and 50% of our time with family a balance life ? It is not so simple. It all depends on the need of the person concern, his hobby, life style and also the needs of his or her  immediate family or people close to them. It also depends on the married status of the person concern and what is his interest and position in his company.

After so many decades of hard work and dedication to their work, it is time to wake up and re-assess our life. The Establishment is always pulling us by the nose and some people are abused and force to work continuously until their death. There are reports in China that workers committed suicide at Japanese MNCs and this also happen in Japan.  In Malaysia, there are less cases but people committed suicide due to debts, emotions and other reasons instead of work. Are the people in Malaysia living a more balance life. No, there are definite cases of overwork in a rat race work or to earn more money.

Lets put aside suicide  cases involving debts, emotions and love but concentrate on work related issue. There is no fixed formula to determine what is a balance life  ? Some people need a longer sleep or rest or some bigger families need more time from each member or if there is some hyper-active child, the needs maybe more. Is 9 to 5 ,enough for us to do our job satisfactorily ? What about when we are involved in a project which have irregular schedules , is 9to5 enough ? How much time is enough to allocate to our spouse ? Is making other people around us happy while we are happy at work a balanced life ? Is happiness a barometer to determine whether we have a balanced life. So, many variables and there is no one fix.

Basically, there are a few things which I think is needed in a balance life. 1) Level of contentment 2) Enough rest  3) Enough financial means  4) Have a loving family  5) Pursuing a hobby 6) Healthy activities   7) Doing things that we like during leisure and working hours.  The most important criteria is loving our job and doing something we like in our job and leisure time.  My priority and choice is not the same as yours. Hence, it is not a standard and you have to find your own level. Go in within yourself to search for the balance.

Namaste.