In my view maintaining balance is the key to professional and personal success. There is an approach that is so helpful  which is explained in the Purna Health Management System (PHMS) by Professor Dr Svami Purna (Svamiji) based upon perennial wisdom of the Vedic knowledge found in the authentic texts such as the Gita and the Vedanta.

• Be clear about your objectives and priorities,;
• live a healthy and fulfilled life;
• stay motivated; and
• always celebrate successes.

​For many people this means maintaining:

• Happiness
• Health; and
• Wealth

The human being has devised  varied approaches to satisfy themselves physically, mentally and psychologically. Passing fads abound in terms of diets, forms of exercise and hobbies. Then a time comes when all these methods become exposed and recognized as charades. and superficial You can feel empty – a failure.  A much greater need is experienced, and that need, the demand for a deeper understanding of life and fulfilment, will always be there.  It can often be compared to a continuous pain.  No matter how one tries to divert the mind, from time to time the pain will be there. My experience is that the more you grow in philosophical and spiritual understanding, the more you will be able to receive and to reflect true happiness. You can accept the ups and dons and reconcile yourself as you have your own individual purpose that does not entertain comparison with the lives of others.  It enables inner peace and is something that, once attained, becomes inexhaustible.  Then you will have found the Source and that never runs dry, like a river going to the ocean, on and on.  This happiness cannot be bought, it cannot be found – it must be earned, earned by pure thought and action: it may be earned through responsibility for self, selflessness, devotion, dedication, faith, service, sacrifice, gratitude and humility.  It will involve your whole being, your heart and your soul.  The PHMS integrates this appreciation for life and allows individual empowerment to have a happy and healthy life and assist those who follow the practices to realise their potential from day to day over the course of their life.

Svamiji has said so often that without health it is so much more difficult to realize our individual potential as we travel through our life and carry out our dharma. The key has been mentioned very often: find balance and  – in the quest for balance – to be proactive and not react whenever possible.
If I were to give you one tip from the PHMS that I have found to be a priority in my personal dealings and as a professional it is to not react. This tip assists us in our mental, physical and spiritual or whole wellbeing. As Svamiji  teaches we can indeed create our own world through our choices and lifestyle. Our way of life can also have a positive benefit on those in our contact. I have found that by aspiring to being balanced in every way I have made better decisions in the context of both my personal and professional   priorities and have found an increasing integration in a manner that I  refer to as practical spirituality.
According to the dictionary balance is usually defined as stability of mind and body. Balance has recently come to mean part of life/work balance according to which certain modern approaches are recommended. For the purpose of this piece I would like to encourage achieving the right balance through the traditional and profound methodology set out in the PHMS. Also as regards the meaning of balance I would like to propose a definition based upon the  BALANCE acronym that I coined some time ago: Be Always Loving and Naturally Calm Everywhere.

As a woman in this life, coupled with the fact that the professional and personal choices can often appear to compete or conflict as we try to balance our personal and professional responsibilities, in my view it is particularly vital for women to contemplate, review and integrate the PHMS on a daily basis and to understand that the soul or spirit has no gender.  Of course this understanding also enables us to empathise with the position of others,. We come to realize that all of us have both female and male qualities and to do our utmost to integrate this intuitive understanding in an ongoing manner, strengthening our key goal to achieve contentment and peace of mind.  We are all aware of the attributes repeated in so many places about the meaning of success and see that many so called successful people in the world are often unhappy or depressed. I would propose that the tools of the PHMS – and the Balanced series referred to in the Publications here, –  the exercises, practices and the Wisdom, are especially helpful and important to achieve a happy, healthy and balanced life. In turn this enables us to learn and develop in a selfless manner which can come naturally as a result of nurturing the higher ethical qualities, whether men or women, particularly in understanding the issue of ego.

Moreover, as individuals we are so often torn between coming to terms with ourselves and our individual duty – dharma – and the ingrained programming that many of us experience in our families or communities or cultures such as pleasing others, from childhood through the career cycle and when looking after or caring for those close to us. Women unfortunately may tend to make choices for the sake of others or peace – one could call it seva in its purest form – but later regret or blame others as they reflect over “lost” time, or, indeed, opportunities. They can become emotionally swayed and dwell in self-pity – they can become down as they age over their appearance and lose self-esteem, possibly more than the men around us.  This is where an understanding of the four stages of life found in the Vedic approach and explained in the PHMS.

There is so much wisdom in the PHMS and in Svamiji’s Teachings  (see further information in www.adhyatmik.org), that it is difficult to select those aspects that are more relevant to me than others. Perhaps the advice most dear to my heart that I have integrated in my profession as  an international  lawyer is the following regarding interaction with nature. I would like to close by  emphasizing that communion with nature is without doubt a force for good and well-being such as a visit to the forest, the ocean, or the mountains  will demonstrate. As Svamiji teaches:
​
Lessons are learned from many sources,
Including the elements of Nature;
Mountains represent firmness and stability;
In Rivers we find fluidity and flexibility;
Trees illustrate the ability of forbearance;
And the Sun teaches us to shine without expectation or discrimination.
The clarity of the Sky and the patience of the Earth can serve as constant reminders and examples to us.
Dr Svami Purna: Balanced Yoga (Element Books1997 p.10)