SANITY SAVERS: Tips for Women to Live A Balanced Life is in bookstores and is filled with suggestions to save your sanity every day of the year.

A must for any woman seeking to find her balance!

For every person wishing to change his or her life, every single minute of every day brings a multitude of opportunities, blessings, and affirmations. Change (dramatic, life-altering change) does not have to come from an epiphany, a moment of Biblical proportions, complete with special effects, breakthroughs, or drastic alterations in reality!

Think of the way many people transform themselves and their lives while not only focusing on their goal (the solved problem, the revitalized person, the Eureka! moment of discovery) but also on the seemingly small steps that led to it.

Discover a way of viewing life and its endless opportunities for renewal. What place do schedules, timetables, and "being in control" have in your life? Just consider how many people juggle appointment books, BlackBerries, i-Phones and festoon their walls with agendas and goal-projecting calendars. Many of us are ruled by the relentless rush of time. That's understandable (and sometimes commendable), but we sacrifice an awareness of what time can offer us.

We think we can control time, cram more minutes into each hour, set the agenda, tone, or theme of the day without appreciating the value that comes from having space in our day and in our life. These spaces allow us to see the value in each moment. We can then have a spontaneous interaction or experience which requires that we be fully present.

Most goals have to do with Doing, not Being, and those are about what gets done on the to-do list. Focusing on Being requires a change in perception. We can control our attitude, our perception, and how we use our time. There are days we may consider "unproductive" because we don't accomplish every item on our "to-do" list. But on those days, we need to commend ourselves for that which we do accomplish, much of which is not even on the list. Our days can be full of things realized, things learned, things accomplished that there isn't a calendar on Earth to register them all.

TODAY Show (NBC)

Please check my website, www.drdaleatkins.com, for the most current updates.

WKTU-FM Radio Interview on KTU Cares
April 6th: 9-9:30AM: Jumpstart's Playdate with a Purpose and the Issue of Early Childhood Literacy.
KTU airs on Sunday mornings and focuses specifically on issues impacting the NY community.

Friends of the Westport Center for Senior Activities
April 18th: 2:30PM: Topic: Keeping Your Life Interesting.
Westport, CT.

Honoree: Jewish Women's Foundation of New York
April 20th: 12PM: Annual Benefit Luncheon.
Plaza Hotel, New York, NY.
For luncheon or contribution information, please call 212-838-2660, ext. 13.

Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy
April 22nd: 12PM: Financial Responsibility and Children.
Greenwich, CT.

Connecticut Department of Health
April 26th: 7:30 - 9AM: Grand Rounds, Sharing Difficult News with Patients and Families.
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Chawla Auditorium, Hartford, CT.

"Time to Shine," Gymboree Play and Music Annual Meeting
April 29th: 9AM: Keynote Speaker: Playdate with a Purpose/Raising Charitable Children.
Hyatt Hotel, Chicago, IL.

Event Committee: Jumpstart's Scribbles to Novels Benefit
April 29th: 6PM
Espace, New York, NY.

Read Dr. Atkins' article for Glamour Magazine online, April/May: Easy Ways to Take 'Me' Time.

Read Dr. Atkins' chapter, "Family Involvement and Counseling in Serving Children Who Possess Impaired Hearing," in the new text, Introduction to Aural Rehabilitation.
Edited by Raymond H. Hull, and published by Plural Publishing.

See Making the Case for Family Dinners, at iVillage.com: http://www.ivillage.com/making-case- family-dinner/3-a-62563

Handle Your Mail Just Once a Day

It is easy to become inundated with mail daily. Bills, magazines, and junk mail clutter our desks. If we ignore it, the pile gets larger.

Why not consider setting aside 15 minutes a day to handle your mail? It can be liberating not to have stacks of mail eating up table space. Go through the mail once and make a decision on reading it, filing it, or discarding it. If it takes more than the allotted time for the day, set it aside for the next day and move on to other activities.

When you rush, you often misstep or forget something important. When you move with consciousness and purpose, you are less apt to make mistakes, and more apt to enjoy, be present, and stay on your course.

Do not get overwhelmed with the details and lose sight of the larger picture. How to go about doing this? Here are some tips:

Get Organized - Don't overlook the power of the short list. Jot down what needs to be done to avoid wasting time.

Spread Responsibilities - Have people pitch in, but don't wait for volunteers. Give jobs and ask for specifics. No one person should be doing everything, and everyone needs help.

Find a Way to Enjoy the Chaos - Keep perspective and laugh! A sense of humor can lighten the mood and ease tension.

Maintain a Healthy Routine - Take some moments each day to work out, stretch, read an inspiring story, and meet a friend for a cup of tea away from the chaos.

Finally, appreciate what DID get done.

"I rush badly but I wait well."

Herbert Orenstein