Har­mony vs Bal­ance: What’s the dif­fer­ence? Do you want har­mony in your life or bal­ance? We hear a great deal about the need to cre­ate bal­ance in your life. Try­ing to achieve bal­ance can cause even more stress. And who needs more stress!

Seek Har­mony

Har­mony is like a puzzle

We advise peo­ple to seek har­mony instead of bal­ance. Har­mony is defined as “a state in which var­i­ous parts form a sat­is­fy­ing and har­mo­nious whole” or as “a sit­u­a­tion in which there is friendly agree­ment or accord.” Bal­ance is defined as “a state in which two (or more) oppos­ing forces or fac­tors are of equal strength or impor­tance so that they effec­tively can­cel each other out and sta­bil­ity is main­tained.” Bal­ance implies that all aspects of your life are equal. Align­ing these dif­fer­ent fac­tors by devot­ing the same amount of atten­tion and time assumes you will be able to cre­ate bal­ance. But the real­ity of seek­ing bal­ance is lim­it­ing. There are times when you need to focus on one aspect of your life more than another. For instance, if you have aging par­ents or pre-school age chil­dren, you will need to focus a cer­tain amount of time on those respon­si­bil­i­ties. Or if you are a bud­ding author, you may need to devote more hours to your writ­ing. Give your­self per­mis­sion to deter­mine which area(s) of your life need more time and atten­tion. Then develop a game plan that enables you to focus on those areas with­out jeop­ar­diz­ing the other aspects of your life. Remem­ber har­mony is about cre­at­ing a “sat­is­fy­ing and har­mo­nious whole” and implies a “friendly agree­ment or accord.” Find a way to dis­cuss your game plan with the impor­tant peo­ple in your life. This can help them under­stand and sup­port your choices and decisions.