“So, Kate, what did you do on your March Break in Israel?”

I didn’t.

I just be’d.

Nothing more wonderful than being.

I struggle with balance. Maybe you do too.

We hear a lot about “work-life balance” or “work-life harmony” meaning the pursuit of simultaneous meaningful and joyfully-experienced paid work and engagement with community and self-nourishment.

I love my life. In objective terms I am “successful”. When I reflect on my successes, I am proudest of my accomplishment of human connection. There are a lot of people with whom I can celebrate life’s victories and commiserate in life’s tragedies. My level of connectivity fuels me.

And. I also often feel “full”. Stretched to the limits of my energy. Bloated with incomplete tasks, unfinished business and distraction.

I have my own business. I manage a team. I have a life partner. I have little kids. I have parents and sisters and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and cousins and friends and colleagues and communities and causes and hobbies. I have dreams. I have a body and a mind and a soul. All these aspects of my life jumble around and I want to give them my full attention.

Much of the time, my attention is divided and shared and that works well.

There are other times, it doesn’t.

When I’m full, a practice that helps me is to focus on “being”.

That means:

• Feeling the moment of what it is like being with someone I love or being in the activity
• Welcoming silence
• Saying no to everything except the things to which I can enthusiastically say yes
• Identifying no more than three doable tasks for the day that will bring happiness
• Prayerful gratitude

How do you combat feeling “full”?