Balance—I found myself using that word quite regularly over the past week. At work, I talked with my team members about balancing the needs of the customer, the company and the team. When deciding how to deal with an employee who wasn’t meeting their manager’s standards, we discussed “balance”.
In yoga, my students and I were aware of the balance between striving to get into the described pose, with acceptance of their current state of being. Even checking my Facebook page my friend, Erin, had posted the following as her status:
Balance:
1) A state of bodily equilibrium: equal distribution of weight
2) A state of mental steadiness or emotional stability
or
3) The precarious ratio of antihistamine to caffeine to allow both breathing and some degree of alertness.
How often and in what ways do we strive for and attain balance? Is it by having a state of mental steadiness? Or is it having the precarious ratio of antihistamine to caffeine?
At work, in our desire to produce the “perfect product/results” we may focus exclusively on whatever our definition of “perfect” is, while ignoring others’ idea of “perfect”. How you define or measure “balance” will differ from how another person does. Are you balancing your need for money with your need for time?
Are you balancing your desire to succeed with your sense of authenticity? Are you working at your job to the exclusion of enjoying your family? Are you working at your job to the exclusion of enjoying your job?
Notice yourself today. Consider when you are “in balance” and when you are teetering one way or the other—or on the edge.