By Sheena Williams

Looking at the ups and downs of last year can certainly make your head spin. All of the choices that you did or didn’t make, the chances that you did and didn’t take have all led you to the “you” that you are at this moment! What’s done is done, and it can’t be changed, but what you can do now is make sure that you are headed in the right direction! This is where the Life Wheel comes in!

The Life Wheel allows you to gauge your progress toward happiness. Ideally, your life should be balanced within these various areas:

• Business/Career/Studies

• Finance/Wealth

• Health/Fitness

• Social/Friends

• Family

• Love

• Recreation/Fun

• Contribution

• Personal Growth

• Spiritual, and

• Self-image.

All of these things comprise the makeup of who you are and leans you toward a balanced life.

To help you chart your progress toward happiness, we have included a Life Wheel. With this wheel, you can ask yourself questions and plot your points where you feel you are at this particular moment. As you go through the exercise, remember that this is not about beating yourself up. Some of the choices we make may not have been the best, but they are the choices that we made with the information and time available to us. Your goal is to reach toward happiness now and not allow yourself to wallow in the past.

Check out the Life Wheel for yourself.

Instructions:

Step 1: Ask yourself each question and give yourself a rating from 0 to 10, (0 being no progress made and 10 being progress attained).

1. ____ Business/Career/Studies  Where do you feel you are with regard to your work? If you’re working, then rate your satisfaction with your job goals? Are you a student? Where do you feel you are with regard to your grades, studying, and career goals?
2. ____ Finance/Wealth  How do you feel about where you are financially? Do you have the savings you want? Are you secure with what you have? This is not about being rich; it’s about how you feel about where you are financially at the moment.
3. ____ Health / Fitness  How do you feel with regard to your health? This isn’t about your size; it’s about whether you can pass a physical. Do you breath correctly, do you work out on a regular basis? How do you feel about your level of physical activity?
4. ____ Social / Friends  How are you doing with your friends? Do you support them and are they supportive of you? Do you have fun when you go out with them? Are they more trouble than they are worth? Are there any negative influences?
5. ____ Family  Are you happy with how your family is getting along with you, not whether they get along with Aunt Delia or not. Do you get along with those family members who are important to you? Do you need to apologize to anyone? Do you feel you are owed an apology? Do you love being around them?
6. ____ Love  How loved do you feel? This is not necessarily romantic love. This is about how loved you feel overall by your family and friends. Do you feel that you are emotionally validated by those you have around you?
7. ____ Recreation/Fun Do you participate in things that you enjoy? Hobbies, martial arts, card collecting, or any other activity that you do to relax. Do you take time for yourself?
8. ____ Contribution  How do you feel about your contribution to society? Do you give back to the community? Do you do unto others as you would have them do unto you? How often do you do something for someone with no expectation of reward in return?
9. ____ Personal Growth  Do you read on new ways to do things? Take a computer class or maybe take a cooking class? Watch documentaries on the civil war? Take up a hobby that builds your hand and eye coordination? Do you do things to better yourself and keep yourself thinking?
10. ____ Spiritual  This is not necessarily religious, though it can be. Do you belong to a church that you attend regularly? Do you meditate? Are you Agnostic or Atheist? Do you chant to the tunes of bells, or do you quietly pray at the end of your day and before every meal? What is it that you do that keeps you centered and focused on what it is you want out of life, and are you taking the steps to make sure it happens?
11. ____ Self-Image  Forget about what everyone else thinks about you. Forget about the way your Pomeranian looked at you when you walked in the door. What do you think about yourself and where you are at this moment? As a reminder, this is not where you can dump on yourself and criticize yourself. This is where you take a few minutes to think of all the things that you believe are great and all the things that you could work on and sum them up in one rating.

 

Step 2: Once you have rated yourself plot them on the included chart with a point then connect the dots.

 

Step 3: Once you have connected all of the dots, then, read on to find out what the shape of your wheel means.

1. A Consistent Small Wheel — Notice the small wheel due to the low scores? This means that there are things going on in your life that are hindering you from broadening your wheel. Take some time to figure out what it is and take the steps necessary to broaden your circle.
2. A Lopsided Wheel (a wheel that’s larger on one side then the other) —Decent! It means that you are moving forward in some parts of your wheel. However, it may also mean that you have neglected other parts of your wheel in pursuit of other parts. Try to balance your wheel out.
3. A Generally Broad Wheel With a Few Low Points — You are doing really well. Most wheels look like this. Your scores are pretty equal all the way around, but there are a few areas that you could work on. Take some time out to figure out what these areas are and see if you can straighten them out!
4. A  Large Complete Wheel (Circle) — I’m sure the Dali Lama has a complete circle, but we mere mortals find this shape to be the hardest to obtain. It’s doable, but it takes a lot of balancing to have all of your ducks lined up in a row. And honestly, that is just a part of the human condition to strive to be better. A possible trap that some may fall into once they reach 8 and up on their wheel is that they will feel there is no room for improvement which is furthest from the truth. There is always room to improve yourself. Your wheel may never be perfectly round, but it’s the process of getting it there that makes it worth it!

Look at the scores and the shape of your wheel and take this as a chance to ask yourself some questions and do some soul searching. This isn’t for assigning blame or pointing the finger. Small scores are not a red flag for unhappiness. It just means that there are some areas that you may want to look into to round out your life. This wheel is about locating your happiness and finding a way to move toward it! Take a deep breath, get a piece of paper and a pen and start writing out some plans and wishes!

WPMG offers an electronic book called the “The Me I Want To Be.” This publication can help you find the person that you hope to be. It will take you from where you are to where you want to go. “The Me I Want To Be” may help you sort out some of the imbalance on your wheel by helping you figure out exactly what it is that you wish to do. Check out the WPMG Network tab on campusjobxpress.com. Good luck! Δ