One of my friends said recently, about balance: "It's what we all strive for in our own way. It's a very elusive thing and sometimes so unfamiliar a feeling that we don't even recognize it when we have it for that one fleeting moment." So true. (For the record, my friend has her own blog, with beautiful, delicious, healthful, inspiring food (and her smart, savvy ways of preparing it: The Pig and The Fig.) In choosing to muse about balance, I feel the need to clarify that by no means do I write"In The Balance" because I think have a handle on it. Au contraire. Every morning, I give it a go, sometimes spilling my coffee along the way, sometimes evoking the wrath of a grumpy passenger in my car, and sometimes forgetting the folder I needed. Those are the small ways of teetering. There are larger ones, to be sure, and I plead my share of guilty. Keeping a hold on your center is really hard, especially with the level and intensity and constancy of destabilizing messages we receive multi-media-ly all day and night. It's just that lately I've been very aware of and self-conscious about my interest in balance, and my observations about where it's off -- in myself, in my family, and in the world around me. I do not for one second consider myself a master of the task of balance. Instead, I believe in the process of paying attention to where we are, and putting some questions out there so that we all (myself included) might pause, even fleetingly, and check our balance.
Balancing Act: Pause for a moment. Do not look at your phone. Take a deep breath.
Jess, this blog is great! I too am struggling to find balance in every part of my life. I am a lot closer to finding it than I was five or ten years ago, but I still feel a sense of loss when I get in bed and realize that I only did things I had to do all day long. I like your idea of pausing to check our balance; it's that kind of mindfulness that always has a positive impact on me.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work! You are inspiring.