Do you ever feel like one of those plate spinning circus peformers who use the gyroscopic effect to balance plates on top of long poles held vertically in stands?  By the time they get the last one going, the first one is about to drop, so they run back to set it spinning again, and so it continues………  I remember working with a healing client not so long ago who was experiencing just such a phenomenon!

Life these days can feel a lot like a balancing act.  We each have so much to attend to right now.  The pace and complexity of life has increased so dramatically with the advancements in technology of, say, the last 50 years, that the “simple life” has all but been eradicated.  When was the last time you sat and watched the sun rise or set, or took time to simply observe the stars in the night sky?  When did you last take a walk in the woods and stop to admire and absorb the rich variety of smells and colors of nature?

When our plates become overfull and the responsibilities we have become unmanageable, we are faced with some tough choices.  Do we continue to struggle along, doing the best we can to handle everthing, or do we examine all those responsibilities and expectations and see where we can make some changes in our life?

The problem with having too much on your plate is that all your energy goes to “maintaining” which leaves little or no time and space for creativity, recreation, enjoyment, healing, relaxation – in other words, quality of life!  Something else that gets lost in the shuffle is your sense of self – your awareness of who YOU are in the midst of all your responsibilities.   This is truly unfortunate because maintaining a good connection with yourself is crucial to being able to maintain balance and harmony in your life.

One day a few weeks ago, I was feeling more than a little overwhelmed with everything I had to accomplish.  I was feeling buried under a mountain of responsibility – it was hard to breathe, let alone see what to tackle first.  It was time to take some action.  So, I took a deep breath and sat down to meditate for a while.  During my meditation, I simply focused on saying hello to ME, slowly separating from all the THINGS I should be doing, all the PLACES I should be and all the PEOPLE who needed my attention.  As I went through this process, I began to feel less buried, pressured, overwhelmed – more aware of myself, and more capable.  This is healing in its simplest form – taking a timeout!

I invite you to try this out for yourself.  Next time you are feeling overwhelmed and unable to maintain balance in your life, take a deep breath, sit down, close your eyes and say hello to yourself.  You don’t have to know how to meditate in order to do this.  Just begin to recognize yourself as separate from everyone and everything else in your life – even your loved ones!  If you want to get really daring, you can go one step further and turn off your cell phone, PDA, computer and anything else that keeps you open and accessible.

You might even find that some of those plates you are spinning aren’t yours and can be let go of.  With less plates to balance, you will have more time and space for you which, in turn, will allow you to see more clearly how to create balance and harmony in your life and assist others in doing the same.

As long as you put yourself at the top of the list of things you have to take care of, the balancing act of life will be within your control, manageable and even enjoyable!