Balance.

Do you remember the teeter totter in the playground at your childhood school?
You'd get on, one of your friends on the other end. up and down, first you would push, then your friend... If you weighed about the same amount, you could go up and down with that person for a long time.

But did you ever get on the thing with somebody who was bigger than you? Remember that sickening feeling when you realized that you had no control over the situation? That bigger kid could keep you up high for a long time, or slam you to the ground. There was nothing that you could do about it.

This is an illustration of balance. So long as that teeter totter was in balance, life was good, even, simple and fun.

Another example would be to imagine 3 potted plants. Lets say that you give one plant 5 cups of water each day. The second plant you give 1 cup of water. The third plant you never water. What would happen? Well, none of the plants would do very well. The first one is getting too much water, and his roots are rotting. The second is getting by, but barely. The third is slowly dying of starvation.

Think for a minute about the balance in your own life now. Do you balance your obligations with those things that you enjoy? The things that you have to do with those that you want to do?

This weekend, babe found herself hopelessly off balance. After spending the entire work week surrounded by five year old children, she discovered that she had come home from work, only to find more five year old children. Although I am not sure what the balancing factor to a kindergartner is, i suspect it is not another kindergartner. By the time that I arrived home on Saturday afternoon, it was somewhat easy to tell that she had no need for a kid-fix. She had experienced enough five year old for one week.

And this happens everywhere a person looks. "too much work makes jack a dull boy" "all things in moderation" how many cliche's can you name that are nothing more than an expression of balance?

Unfortunately, our own ability to balance our lives is often beyond our control. Many times, the things that we have to do override those that we want to do, or worse they override other things that we also have to do. It is awfully hard to do the dishes when you are at work; or take the dog to the vet when we need to be in another place.

But we try. I think that for most of us, the factor in our life that gets left out in the cold too often is simple relaxation. We are so busy trying to keep the rest of our lives in check that we dont stop and take a break. We dont take the kids to the beach. We dont go play with our toys. When was the last time that you took an afternoon nap on a Saturday? You cant because you are too busy trying to get your kids to take their nap right?

The worst thing to try and balance by far are the relationships in your life. every relationship that you have takes a differentiated amount of time. You need to spend x amount with your job. Y amount with your spouse, your kids, each friend that you have takes a unique amount. The hardest part is that you need some time for yourself as well. It never seems to fail that there are more things that you are supposed to do than you are actually getting done. you have more expected than you can deliver.

have you ever noticed what happens when you get your diet out of balance? Too much of this, not enough of that? people get sick. They get tired. They get hyperactive. Worst of all, they get gas. Just a matter of balance.

SO. What does a person do? I think that the best thing is to put some thought to what it is in your own life that is out of balance. Find a way to even things out. Do it on purpose.

Odds are, the things that you are spending too much of your attention on wont even notice the change. The things that are being left to the side will flourish by comparison. Think about those plants again. What if we took the five cups of water from the first plant, and the one from the second, and instead gave each of the three plants two cups of water. Suddenly, without changing the amount of water, or effort we are putting forth, all three plants will begin to grow again, and all three will flourish.