Sometimes we have periods in our life where we are not quite sure why we feel a bit up and down, but we know we feel a bit “wobbly” and a bit dull ache in the pit of the belly. Obviously, during times like this with so much uncertainty, many things are beyond our control and it is understandable and explainable to feel this way. But sometimes there is so much change going on that it is hard to see the wood for the trees and so it is good to actually check if there are areas in one’s life that we are not dealing with. When we are up and down we don’t eat so well because we don’t allow the time because we are often worrying, we don’t exercise as well and we are less focused. We can end up being short-tempered with colleagues, clients and family, which is not constructive.
A simple way of getting a good clear look at our life is to do a wheel of life. Quite simply draw a circle and divide it up and write down all the things that make one’s life up and that are important to us. And score them out of 10. Draw a line across the segment at the level they score at – so the middle of the circle being 0 and 10 being the outside edge. Then colour it in and it becomes very clear where one’s concerns are if there are any.
One can then do a wheel of life for the sections that don’t score so high to understand what aspect is concerning us there and what we need to do to make changes.
This can be used for everything from the work place – to if a child is unhappy at school – is it friends, work, teachers etc? Relationships? Sports – from technique to team work etc.
Sometimes it is easier to run through it with another person in order to remain focused and to the point and so one does not get carried away in the “why” just focus on answers from the how the gut is feeling – “how do you feel about your hobbies right now answer 0-10?”, then onto the next question “when you think of your kids how do you score the situation from 0-10?” – no thought on why you said that answer. Then work on the “why” later.
