Technically it takes the Earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to circle the sun. Which means that our 365-day calendar year is slightly out of sync with the solar year. That’s why we have a Leap Day every four years- a day to help synchronize the calendar year with the solar year.
This Monday, February 29th, is an extra day for the Earth and our calendar year to realign- and if you are feeling a little “out of sync” yourself, now is a perfect opportunity to have a “personal realignment” day.
If you have ever experienced feeling a little “out-of-whack” or a little “off,” you know it doesn’t feel very good. It could be that the busy life you are living may not be aligning with your most important values. For example, if you value your health, but have been eating more sweets than veggies, you could feel unbalanced because your actions aren’t reflecting what you value as important. Or, you may say family is your first priority, but recently you find yourself coming home late from work, stressed out, and to unwind you spend the rest of your night in front of the TV. But are these actions really aligning with your values?
Feeling “off balance” is a gift. This feeling often gives us the impetus we need to realign reality with our values. It’s not that you are intentionally eating unhealthy, or purposefully not giving your attention to those you care about, it may be that you are un-purposefully living. “Hey! I’m not un-purposefully living,” you may say, “I go to work every day to support my family.” But how do your kids know that you are thinking of them at work when they don’t have your attention when you arrive home? If your top priority is your family, this doesn’t mean that you should quit your day job. It’s just a question of what you could do every day that aligns with your highest value. It may be a simple compliment to your wife, an extra bed time story with your kids, announcing a game night every Wednesday, or gathering for an “unplugged” family meal.
Taking this time to reflect on how you are living will help you reconnect with your top values and will add deeper meaning and purpose to your life.
Personal realignment exercise:
Reevaluate: What are your core values? Is it your loved ones? Your health? A strong work ethic? A relationship with God? Make a list of your top five- ten values and prioritize them.
Reflect: How are you spending your time? Focusing on your top values, ask yourself what actions you have been taking (or not taking) that align with your values? This will help you find areas in your life where you are an “A” student and pinpoint the areas that need more attention.
Revision: After prioritizing your values, create a vision of how you want to live life as your best self. What are you doing as the best version of yourself? How do you feel- how do you make others feel? What are you accomplishing each day? What do you want to accomplish this year? Next year? What would you like your legacy to be?
Realign: Take action. What intentional daily actions are you willing to implement that align withyour core values?
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates