Balanced Living…
Is your life in balance?
How many balls are you juggling at one time?
Have you dropped any lately?

I love to juggle! I’ve got a dozen important balls in the air most of the time. However, when I drop balls, I don’t love juggling at all.

One day, I realized not all 12 of those balls represents an important piece of what makes me feel whole.  I started to think about who or what got to be a ball in my juggling act. I needed to concentrate on one at a time – even if it was just for a split second – and the other balls needed to be able to continue the act without my full attention, knowing they were still an indispensable piece of who I want to be.

I picked categories and gave each ball a color:

• Family is blue (for first place)
• Physical health is gold (where am I without that?)
• Spiritual growth is red (see the reason for gold)
• Friends are green (I need diversity of thought and connection)
• Challenging my thinking is purple (I can’t remain stagnant)

I could pick many more but I am happy, fulfilled and blessed with these five categories.  In fact, five categories are really all I can manage well – even though I keep trying to add more to the mix.  I know that when I drop one, I need to pick that one off the ground, apologize to the people affected, and start over juggling my five indispensable colors.

It’s really just a choice.  How many balls can you juggle and stay in balance?  Do you recognize when you add a new color to the mix? Do you know the priority of the new one? When you inevitably drop a ball, you’ll know which ones to pick up again and which ones to say “I’ll keep practicing. For now, this is the best juggler I can be.  I’ll get back to you as soon as I improve my game.”