Reading time: 3 minutes, 32 seconds
Don’t miss the exercise / free tool included at the end.
As summer reaches its pinnacle, you might just be spending less time in front of a computer screen and more time pursuing the season’s pleasures. Pat and I certainly are. We’re enjoying a self-proclaimed summer break, which is why you haven’t seen many new blog postings here lately.
Between spurts of scribbling, baking and barbecuing, my brain is craving a little balance. And since I’ve freed up some time from relaxing to do a little “work”, I can indulge in a few minutes to think of you.
I’m envisioning you outside, eyes closed, head titled back, catching sun rays, face heat flushed, just the slightest grin, prizing the moment. Now I’m imagining you a little later, inside, cooled off, catching your breathe, getting back to matters that matter. Enjoying life, then back to work.
You and the Yin and Yang of the Universe.
The Ideal (static)
In this little scene, I see you dancing to one of the most basic universal rhythms, what Chinese philosophers have titled yin and yang. Yang is the warm light. Yin is the cool shadow. They are symbolic of interdependent, contrasting principles in constant interplay. Fluid and self-regulating, their balance is natural and automatic.
Oh, really? Well, yes. But it’s usually not as elegant and comfortable a process as we’d like to think.
The Reality (in motion)
Although embodying wholeness together, one element is often too much or not enough and reliant upon the forces of the opposing element to be squelched or permitted to expand. In a way, yin and yang represents a state of constant unrest and a more or less evident feeling of discontentment in people.
So It Is with Work-life Balance.
Definition: “Work-life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) on one hand and “life” (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.”
Wikipedia 2010-07-22
These days, we as a society are collectively striving to achieve yin and yang in work and life. And we have, sort of…
To me, work-life balance is a helpful but somewhat tricky concept that we inadvertently use to create additional drama in our lives.
If work and life are two subordinate and opposing poles, then we mustn’t forget the uncomfortable rule of yin and yang affecting our balance. It dictates that we find ourselves in a persistent field of agitation (albeit mild) as work and life oscillate in and out of dominance and submission in our minds. I see it as an all-encompassing motor that keeps us “in meaning” and moving forward.
The trouble is, we often misinterpret our consequential feelings of unrest and discontentment as a personal failure to prioritize properly and be “in balance”. Why shouldn’t we. That’s what we’re told.
What if you decided to follow your own personal yin and yang by…
- letting go of the inner-drama and guilt because one of the two elements is dominating right now,
- trusting that you’ll know at exactly the right moment that the dominating element has come to the end of its reign,
- knowing you’ll do something constructive when the time comes to invest in and restore the opposing element,
- understanding that the cycle is in perpetual flow and
- realizing you get a chance to readjust your elements and balance again and again (as needed) ?
If now is your time to realign your work-life elements, you might be interested in an exercise called “Work / Life Wheel”. It’s an oldy and a goldy that will help you to actively identify and rethink your priorities. Here’s a preview:
Free Tool: Work Life Wheel (with Instructions)
As for me, after having done something that feels remotely productive, I’m getting back to my summer vacation.
Until we meet again,
Shailia
