The Bottom Line

We all have a “bottom line”. When we are able to recognise it, we can slow down when we approach it, and, perhaps, move towards it with more trepidation. It looms ahead of us, and there is a feeling of unrest when we come ever so close to it. That line will shout to us and warn us to stay back or it will tempt us and sway us to jump over. Sometimes the line is obvious, and sometimes it is vague and barely noticeable. However, it is always there and the decision whether to cross it or not rests on your shoulders. The choice is always yours; step over the line or not.
The bottom line is the place where we must stop. Stop working, stop complaining, stop allowing, stop justifying and stop procrastinating. Once we have established our bottom line and stay above it, we make our life just a little bit easier to balance and enjoy. Suddenly, we experience more gratitude, more love, and more joy. Our health improves and we see things more clearly. Everything slows down a bit and we are able to appreciate all things more than ever before.

Life is not meant to be rushed through at the speed of light. It is meant to live fully with every breath that we take. Taking the time to feel your breath moving inside of you and then releasing it again is an experience in itself. Taking a leisurely walk and looking up instead of down enables you to really see the world that you exist in. Imagine that some of us do not ever take the time to go for a walk just for the sheer pleasure of it. We are too busy.

“Where does the time go?” I hear this over and over again. The time is going, and it will go no matter what we do. It is the filling it up with countless tasks that makes our time an endless “to do” list. When this list is endless and we haven’t established our bottom line, we are prone to crossing into the world of too much work and not enough play. How many times have you heard, “How sad, she just retired and was starting to enjoy her life.” The sadness is not only that someone died, but that she was only now beginning to find joy in it. Waiting more than half your life for joy seems unreasonable and unfortunate.  This is not the plan of the universe.

And yet, it is one that many of us chose. Working day and night, and sacrificing love and fun for money and personal belongings. We justify all of this with the perception that we need all of these things, but in reality we can all live with much less. Less stuff provides us with more time spent experiencing our life, rather than working for things that don’t satisfy our heart. Establishing our bottom line allows us to recognise when we are going too far, getting too close, or moving in the direction of imbalance. Everyone’s line is different and some are more flexible than others, but just knowing your bottom line will provide you with a little more guidance than you had before. You may just have more time than you thought.