Your New Life Work Balance Sheet: It’s all about figuring out what really matters. Step Four.

Step One found you having a love affair with yourself. Step Two was all about writing your own bestseller – affirmations that keep you going even on the days when everything, including the car (or cat or toddler), overheats. Step Three got you off the sofa and exercising your right to be fit and trim.

Step Four is all about taking a deep breath….one, two, three and exhaling. And it’s all legal!

I know that women can help themselves in ways that doesn’t involve calling their local pharmacy. When the going gets tough, the tough (or timid with potential) say to themselves, “No more cell phones, computers, meetings, play dates or making dinner until I take off.” To a place that lives only in our minds. The mind that mediates can make it all fit nicely without a meltdown in sight.

Now is the perfect time for us to stay even more focused on our breathing by adding meditation to our daily routines. Start with 5 minutes and see what happens. Bet you can get up to 20 minutes or more a day. I keep my favorite meditation CD by the bed and 30 minutes before the world starts to invade, I listen and get really ready for the day.

Here are just a few of the benefits that come from a few minutes of meditation a day:

Clarity in problem solving;

Reduction of stress and anxiety;

A renewed sense of well being;

More restful sleep;

Slowing down of aging (YES!) and

It can even help with the resolution of mental and emotional blocks in our lives.

Not too bad, eh? Think of it as the 21st century’s own M&M–the mind working with meditation can lead to healthier bodies.

This is one of the best gifts we women can give ourselves, and we can start just by taking a deep breath.