The Balancing Act

Balance: A state in which various elements form a satisfying and harmonious whole and nothing is out of proportion or unduly emphasized at the expense of the rest

Life's all about balance. There's give and take, rich and poor, life and death.

My mom was telling me a story about her friend's son yesterday announcing that he had learned a new game. He said the kids would gather around the playground and then at the designated time, they would all run around it as fast as they could. The child who ran around the most number of times won. His mom said, "That sounds like a great game. Who won?" He responded, "I don't know!" Do you ever get so caught up in your goal, that you forget to enjoy the process? He reminded me that its the process that's important. . Oscar Wilde said, "Life is too important to be taken seriously." It is all about the balance of our focus.


Our lives are measured by many things. Relationships. Families. Wealth. But each of these is connected to who we are and where we come from. In the movie Its A Wonderful Life, George Bailey, could not see his own success until everyone around him showed him. We are all guilty of focusing on the wrong things now and again. These are a few traits I find important in a good person, and good balance.
Compassion. A friend of mine once made a purchase at a local drugstore. The cashier was an African American gentleman. Once the purchase was complete, my friend said, "Thank you sir" to the cashier. As she turned to leave, the cashier stopped her. He said, "I have worked here for 21 years and you are the first person that ever referred to me as sir." My friend was stunned. Compassion is an attitude of care and concern that leads to respect and an understanding of others. When we forget to hear others, we do not truly understand them. Compassion is impossible without generous understanding.
Responsibility. We live in a world where it is much easier to blame others than to take responsibility. Taking responsibility means realizing you do have control over many aspects of life. It means that you must strive for integrity by setting standards for your life. These standards may involve honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty and humility. And, we could all use a regular dose of humility!
Faith. OK, so that's the serious side of life. What about the FUN? Well, humor provides balance by allowing us to see another perspective. For instance, consider this riddle: Why was the man staring at the carton of orange juice? Because it said concentrate! This riddle illustrates that there are connections which are not obvious at first but when we see the relatedness, other possibilities emerge. This can apply to life as well. Wouldn't it be great if you could see other perspectives during times of adversity? A regular dose of humor can help us do that.
Look for humor. A headline in the Washington Times once said, "Lead-lined coffins pose a health risk." Now that's funny. But it also occurred in real life. Had I not been looking, I would have never seen it. Keep your eyes open for humor in your life.
See things from a different perspective. In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams character had his students stand on their chairs. He said that great authors and great poets took at normal everyday situations from different perspectives. By having the students stand on their chairs, he created that different perspective. How can you see your work or life from a different perspective?
We need to be serious about certain things in our life. The risk is that we take ourselves too seriously. Enrich your life with compassion, responsibility and faith but balance it with a whopping dose of humor along the way. Then you too can balance serious issues with light touch!

- Reading back on that I should completely crazy..... But I think it works, almost as well as prozak.