Finding a balance

It is easy to be swept up in these uncertain times and lose the balance that once existed between your work and family. How can you establish a new balance?  First, try to get some fresh perspectives from the people you trust – your touchstones.
And second, change the way you view what “happens” to you. It just might turn things around.

1] Who are your touchstones? Those people who have believed in you through thick and thin. They can be family, friends, strangers who became friends. When was the last time you had a talk with them?
Maybe share some business ideas or ways to economize. Everybody is in the same boat. Maybe you can get some new insight to look at your own situation by listening to someone else, whom you respect and care about, but have lost touch with. How are they coping? This recent article in Success magazine shares three points of view, from: a networking guru, a scholarship fund head and yours truly.

2] When we get mired down in the details of our lives we often forget that all we need to do is to Stop > Stand up > Look Up > and Look Around. Getting lost in the details is a common experience. This well known story never fails to help put things into context and ground my thinking.

There was a poor Buddhist farmer who, lost his only horse when it unexpectedly  ran away. All his neighbors came to him in sympathy, saying “What bad luck!”

“Maybe,” he responded, with a touch of uncertainty.

The next day the horse returned with several other wild horses. “What great luck!” his neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” he responded, in the same cautious manner.

A few days later the farmer’s son was trying to tame one of the wild horses when he was thrown off and broke his leg. “What terrible luck!” his neighbors cried.

“Maybe,” he responded, quietly.

A week later the army came through the village to draft all the young men but seeing the broken leg of the farmer’s son, they left him in peace. “What wonderful luck!” the neighbors said.

“Maybe,” the farmer responded.

And so it goes.

All we need to do is keep an open mind. Try to be aware of all of the things that “happen” to you over the next week and resist the urge to label it good or bad, just try to keep everything in context and seek your natural balance.