BALANCING THINGS RIGHT IN LIFE

Human Life is based on balancing right between a few many things. “We have overstretched our personal boundaries and forgotten that true happiness comes from living an authentic life fueled with a sense of purpose and balance.”Now the decision comes is it a few or many things between which we have to strike the right balance. It can be best judged by the story that I had come across during my difficult times when I had failed to judge between the balance I had to make.

The story goes about a philosophy professor – “A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.””

This simple story is what most of us have come across in our daily lives when striking the right balance between Family, Career and all the other menial things poses a huge problem for us. Getting everything sorted and getting our priorities right is what will propel us for accommodating the other pebbles and sands. Thus we must always remember that “Work, love and play are the great balance wheels of man’s being”,  and if there is a misalignment is the wheels then the cart might break down.