YOUR HOLISTIC LIFE: The Snap Shot and the Portfolio
By Kristen Lauter
What is a snap shot?
A snap shot, in terms of taking pictures, is about capturing a part of a scene with a camera so that this part can be saved either on film, cd, computer etc for repeat viewing.
What is a portfolio?
A portfolio is a portable case for holding photos or drawings.
A portfolio is also known as a representation of a person’s work, such as a photographer’s collection of photos or an artist’s collection of drawings or other portable artwork.
What is the function of a lens?
The lens of a human eye helps to refract light so that it can be focused on the retina.
A man-made lens, however, is a device which transmits and refracts light.
Depending upon which lens is used in photography, results in outcome will vary.
For instance, a fish-eye lens is able to take in an extremely wide array of scenery (wide angle lens). This concept was originally created for use in meteorology and astronomy and was termed “whole sky lenses”.
For someone who likes to photograph wildlife and other picturesque scene’s that are typically far away, a telephoto lens is probably what they’d use. Oftentimes this type of lens can be very heavy to hold which can makes it difficult to capture a picture without it being blurred. This is why stabilized lenses have recently become more popular to use. These lenses help minimize shakiness so that the photos can come out more clearly.
WHAT does any of this terminology have to do with your life? How can the meaning behind these concepts help you to develop and lead a more productive, healthy and holistically happy lifestyle?
Your life contains a series of events, happenings, feelings, scenes, and times of growth. We will call these snap shots of your life. Each snap shot represents a snippet of what your entire life is about! Our function here is to piece together key snap shots that will in the end produce a portfolio, if you will, of your life. Once we create a holistic picture in our minds eye of what this portfolio contains / looks like, we can then determine what lenses you may have been using as each section of your portfolio was created. As you begin to see more clearly and get a bird's eye view of how you want your life to really look, you will then be able to identify when you are using an outdated lens and when you might benefit from using a more updated lens!! The following assignments will help you do just that!!
For your first life altering, holistic living assignment, I’d like you to take a look at the following lens of your life. For our purposes, we have drawn a circle for which you will draw a line within each triangular shape, which will represent how far out or in focus you are with that particular category. See example in Figure B with instructions, and then complete this lens assignment in Figure A
Figure A
Figure B
Figure B will serve as an example for how you should fill in your lens in Figure A.
Sally is going to represent our client sample.
Each triangular piece of this lens above represents an area of Sally's life. We
asked Sally to draw a line inside the pie wedge which represents her social
life - (We asked her if she feels her social life is well in balance and had
her rate it from one to ten, ten being very social and one being hardly
social at all. She said she was about an 8 and she proceeded to draw her
line on that particular pie piece.) Ten (10) would be considered the
outer-most rim of her pie wedge, and one (1) would be considered close to
the inner circle of the entire lens in Figure B. If you move around the lens in
this way, you can speculate that Sally feels that she considers her alone time
as next to nil. Her relationships are represented as higher on the
scale than her exercise or health and wellness time, and her
recreation time is much lower than her allotted time for social
life.
We then asked Sally to color in her lens, from the line she drew within her wedge inward towards the center. (You can choose any colored pen, colored pencils or a plain pencil for each piece of the lens. If you are viewing the cd rom or website, each wedge appears as a different color. If you are viewing this from a manual, it will just appear shaded.
Once filled in, Sally's lens appeared as follows:
Figure C
What does her lens represent? Well, if it were fully filled in, it would represent an even toned stabilized lens. What we’re seeing here is a shaky camera lens!! There are categories of life on this lens that are clearly out of focus!! Sally’s alone time needs to have more attention. Perhaps she can pull a bit of time from her social life and create a space for herself to have some more time alone to do the things she loves!
The next lesson concerns rating matter of importance for the list of life’s lens above. For instance:
Sally considers spirituality number one in her life. So let’s take the following list represented by our life lenses above and show you a sample of what Sally feels is most important in her life (below), and then let’s see if this matches up to what is actually occurring in her life.
Identifying the Weakest Link:
We asked Sally to rate each category from most important with a #8 down to the least important which would be represented by the #1. Here is Sally’s example:
Relationships 6
Alone Time 7
Recreation 5
Exercise 1
Spirituality 8
Health and Wellness 2
Social Life 4
Finances 3
We can tell by looking at the figures that Sally isn’t really giving herself time for what she truly loves or needs. See here how she chose alone time as ranked pretty high up there on the list of what’s important to her, however by looking at her colored lens in Figure C, her alone time hardly exists.
We asked Sally to take a look at this particular area and find three to five reasons as to why she feels she does not have this alone time to herself. Here are three reasons she listed:
1. My work schedule is hectic and the hours aren’t always the same.
2. I have three children and I just can’t find a moment to relax.
3. I have commitments on my social calendar and it doesn’t include any time for myself!!
As you can tell, Sally’s job requires that she be flexible. Her children keep her busy and she can’t find any quiet time to herself. She has scheduled too many social engagements and is at her wits end.
If Sally took away time from any of the other areas listed on her lens in Figure C her life would become a bit more out of focus. Clearly we see that taking away perhaps one scheduled commitment per week would help her regain her alone time that is so desperately needed! She could ask a friend or relative to swap two to three hours of their time to care for her children, or she could hire a baby sitter to come in once a week. She could pencil in two time frames for which a baby sitter could be available, so that she can still be flexible with the demands of her job.
The next assignment is to choose an area on your list that you wish to focus on more clearly.
Do the same exercise that Sally did. Write down three to five reasons as to WHY you feel you haven’t time to focus in on that area.
Then come up with three to five solutions. Stuck? Try this website! http://www.wellness.com
Then ask yourself. Have I been using a bulky and heavy telephoto lens to get a picture of what it is I wish to be viewing? Or have I been using more of a stabilized lens which helps me eliminate blurs and promotes clearer vision?
Do this for each area of your lens. Once you are completed with this exercise, you can better create a schedule for all of the areas on your lens so that you can make sure you’re giving ample time to each.
Allotting time for the following will benefit YOU greatly. Start today, manage your time more wisely, making sure what counts most is on the list of GOOD things to do!!
Click here for an empty schedule sheet
Alone Time: It is very important to take time for self. This is a time to enjoy who you are and what you are about, what you enjoy and how you wish to enjoy it! Allot yourself at least 2 – 3 hours per week for this area of the lens. Alone time can incorporate such activities as drawing, painting, reading, watching tv, singing, dancing, poetry, sitting on a blanket in nature, taking photos of nature, or any activity you can think up!! Take yourself out to lunch and a movie! Whatever it takes, make this priority because when you do, all other areas of the lens will begin to become less blurred and a lot clearer, more enjoyable and easier to manage.
Recreation: Recreational activities contribute widely to genuine health and wellness as well as community unity. About 2 - 3 hours per week is excellent. Some examples of recreation include some of the above in alone time category (ie drawing, painting, dancing, singing, playing a sport, canoeing, hiking, acting or can include any hobby). You can also search your town website or borough hall for recreational events occurring in your area if you aren’t able to coordinate these activities on your own or are looking for more ideas.
Exercise: Studies show that those who exercise have a much better chance of attaining genuine good health and wellness than those who do not. Three times a week would be excellent, however 5-7x a week is ideal, depending upon the exercise and health and wellness of the individual. Again, 2 - 3 hours per week or more is beneficial. Typically, walking is the all around best method to start off with. Walking relieves stress and tension, helps one keep in shape and aids in maintaining weight. Some other examples of exercise: bicycling, hiking, aerobics, weight training, playing a sport, rebounding, roller skating etc. See here for helpful tips when exercising, for pregnant moms to those who wish to exercise as if you have a personal trainer in your living room. http://exercise.lifetips.com
Spirituality: Spirituality does not necessarily mean religion. A spiritual person is one who sees past the physical and knows there is something more to this life than what they are at present able to see. They sense a powerful force when embarking on a journey traveling within. A healing, loving force there to guide, nurture, assist and to become! A person on a spiritual path asks many questions, both concerning the individual and their purpose within this world. A person on a spiritual path seeks to find harmony within and the seeming forces without. One may have feelings of doubt, fear, sadness, and complete joy, inspiration and feelings of oneness on this personal journey. A person seeking may learn from books or teachers along the way, personal experiences, may incorporate prayer, intentions, co-creating with source or many other practices. True spiritual wellness is all about aligning our beliefs and core values with our intentions and actions. *Allotting two to three hours a week devoted to spirituality (ie reading, meditation, learning, practicing) is an excellent way to contribute to a healthy and clear lens in Figure A!
If you wish to learn more about awakening and aligning with this force in order to change your life in practical and yet also mystical ways as well, please enroll in the following program: Awaken the Healer Within Also another great site for spiritual awakening: www.healingsoftheheart.com
Health and Wellness: Traditionally, in the medical model, health and wellness meant absence of disease. The more recent emerging model is more holistic, and means absence of disease to the optional functioning of each individual regardless of current health status or disability. What this does is allows the person to be happy in their state of health while bettering their health and wellness as much as they can. However, if you do not have a disease and are just concerned about HOW you are feeling lately, physically and mentally, perhaps it’s time to run through a mental checklist in your mind and evaluate where you wish to be in terms of your own health and wellness. Here is a wonderful site where you can ask questions, compare feedback and meet others with like minded problems, concerns, wishes or goals! Have fun, it’s a great site. http://www.wellness.com *Add a healthy diet to this mix and your body, mind and spirit will be glad you did. http://www.spiritcentral.net/food.htm (Spend two to three hours a week learning about more ways to provide for your better health and wellness, either by reading a book, taking an online class or hands on workshop, or just simply creating or participating in acts of wellness can do wonders).
Social Life: Socializing and creating a social life can help a person feel more aligned and connected, emotionally and spiritually. Getting together with friends, family and significant others can counteract stress, help resolve personal problems, and help one feel loved, needed and retain a positive self image. There are times for retreat from social affairs, such as an inner personal journey, and there are times when one seeks further communion with others. You know what is right for you and what is missing. If there is something missing at the moment in your life, such as connecting with others, learn why it is so important to do so. http://www.wellsource.com/demo/qc/mstress/socialhlth.htm *Two to three hours a week is optimal.
Relationships: What do your relationships look like? Are you enjoying happy, fulfilling, pretty equal give and take type relationships or are you finding yourself emotionally drained, on the defensive or spending half your time helping others and not really experiencing equal back and forth dedication or commitment? Whether it’s with a friend, a lover, a mother or co-worker, take time to develop more rewarding relationships. Learn techniques on how to approach difficult people, how to get over fears when speaking with others, or how to handle difficult situations. http://www.relationship-talk.com *Spend time planning or working with your partner, or deciding on what you can do to better a relationship. (Book, counseling, talking, experiencing with that partner / friend, or simply intending before prayer or meditation).
Finances: Financial stability / what does this mean to you? Well, making sure you can afford the basics is not what we’re talking about. Financial stability is feeling at ease with where you are at in terms of ability to pay off bills smoothly and on time, putting away for a yearly vacation, planning a special event, means of paying for education and having enough left over to do the things you love to do with your family or friends or significant other. If you could step your financial picture up a notch, what would it look like? Here is a website filled with financial tips that can get you started in the right direction. Two hours a week planning how to better enhance your ability to create wealth. Classes, books, or actually getting out a piece of paper and jotting down how you will accomplish this, each week until an idea pops into your head that plummets your situation forward!
http://financialplan.about.com/cs/personalfinance/a/TopTenMoneyTips.htm
Also, for the spiritual or natural healer (Holistic Health Practitioner), here is an excellent website for you as well:
http://www.zakairan.com/ZaKaiRansArticlesBooks/RecievingMoneyHealingServices.htm
Be well!! I hope this little tidbit of the day helped you in some small way…
Love and blessings,
Kristen Lauter / Founder of Holistic Healers Academy
www.holistichealersacademy.com or org
This is a statement that you could make each and every morning as you get out of bed and meet the day. It will help empower you and allow you to create a vision for your future wellbeing in all areas of your life:
“I allow all out-dated beliefs which no longer serve me, to be transformed into knowledge of abundant wealth, radiant health and eternal joy!”