mapping the data as pie charts. She discovered that most of her time was spent in work-related activities and not enough in adventure or seeing the people she loved. Drawing it up in the visual medium of charts helped her identify her life goals and see the changes she needed to make. Doubtless, we can all fi nd better ways to utilize our assets.


Our Time Arianna Huffi ngton, of New York City, founder of The Huffi ngton Post, knows fi rsthand about having so many demands on our time that days feel rushed, which can increase our stress and negatively impact our productivity. She says, “On the fl ip side, the feeling of having enough time, or even surplus time, is called ‘time affl uence’. Although it may be hard to believe, it’s actually possible to achieve.” Huffi ngton recommends simple steps like getting enough sleep and putting time limits on work and online activities. Belinda Munoz, a social change activist in San


local communities with a research-based model for prosperity. In socially abundant communities and nations, individuals don’t have to earn as much money to be comfortable, because their quality of life is partly provided by the strength of social bonds.


Heeding the Call to Change


Finding and doing what “lights us up” will bring us abundance.


Francisco who blogs at TheHalfwayPoint.net, observes, “Time is neutral. We either use it wisely or waste it, so the onus is on us to make it an asset.” Munoz can both let go of stress and be more productive when she blocks out day parts. “When I focus, I shut out interruptions, stop feeling rushed and get my work done with ease,” she says.


Our Health One high-impact way to support personal health is to value food more, maintains Wann. “We need to spend more of our household budget for food, not less,” he says. “By rearranging both our household and national expenditures, we should give a higher priority to fresh, healthy food and a lower priority to electronic gadgets, shopping, cars, lawns and even vacations. Our overall expenses don’t have to go up, they just need to be realigned with our changing values. By choosing higher quality food and supporting better ways of growing it, we also begin to reshape the American culture,” he says.


Our Community The community, rather than the stock market, is the better source of real wealth—both personal and global—maintains Korten. “Your community economy is part of the glue that binds people together. It’s the key to physical and mental health and happiness.” Giving less control over our fi nancial well-being to Wall Street and more to Main Street will help us think in terms of livelihoods, instead of mere jobs. For Korten, this equates to not only how we make money to live, but also how we live—valuing our homes, communities and natural environment.


Priceless social capital comes from investing our time and money in local communities. Korten observes how, when freely and wisely spent, these efforts can lower crime rates, make schools more productive and help economies function better. Korten cites Oakland, California’s Well-Being in Business Lab, which works with the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, to provide


~David Howitt


Finding and doing what “lights us up” will bring us abundance, claims David Howitt in Heed Your Call. The Portland, Oregon, Meriwether Group entrepreneur who consults for consumer companies, maintains that fi nding our heroic purpose (that heart-centered thing we feel we were meant to do) is the fi rst step toward true wealth. Howitt says the secret is in one small word—and. Instead of choosing either/ or, our world expands with “and”. He urges us to integrate the intuitive and analytic parts of ourselves: “poet and professional, prophet and profi t, soul and success.” It’s not just about philanthropy, but truly


making your community and your world a better place through your work, he observes.


“You’re doing good in the world, and when you live that way, money follows you.”


Judith Fertig blogs about living well at AlfrescoFoodAnd Lifestyle.blogspot.com from Overland Park, KS.


Conducting a Life Audit by Ximena Vengoechea


H


ere’s one approach to doing a life audit in order to both discern more keenly what’s important and


fi gure out how to allocate resources better to make those things happen.


Step 1: Take a few hours and 100 sticky notes. Write a wish—something you’d like to do or have happen in your life—on each one. Arrange them on a fl at surface.


Step 2: See what patterns evolve. Rearrange the notes by themes or categories, such as family, physical health, adventure, profession, giving back and skills. Those that contain the most notes indicate the realm of your most powerful wishes.


Step 3: Evaluate your time. Take stock of a typical day, week and month to analyze how you are spending it.


Step 4: Prioritize. Some wishes need to be fulfi lled every day or soon, while long-term wishes aim for “someday”.


Step 5: Make a plan. Just as with a smart fi nancial strategy, which typically involves investing money over time, you can now allocate your time to make your wish list happen.


For more details, visit Tinyurl.com/ExampleOfLifeAudit. January 2016 25


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