Balance. Juggle. Stay balanced. Juggle some more. Almost lost balance, regained it, still juggling…
Does this sound familiar to you? What if this was not just a fun show where you are watching a juggler keep their balls in the air, but a picture of your life, and therefore far more complicated than a standard five-ball cascade? What if it wasn’t just five balls in the air but 25 balls? What if the balls were all different sizes and shapes? Does that sound like a better picture of life?
Life is a juggle and balance is essential in keeping all the balls in the air. We believe that the key to achieving and maintaining balance is to keep these five balls in the proper order of priority and to choose the right “higher power”. All but one “higher power” will demand more from you and make your juggle harder. One will lighten your load and strengthen you. (More on this in the Spirit ball)
Here we have given our brief definition and explanation of each of these balls of life and tried to identify some of the smaller balls contained within each larger one. We recognize that every individual will have to define each of these balls for themselves and that each will have their own order of priority and balancing points. We hope you will find our thoughts on them helpful in forming or tweaking your own.
In the original illustration that we pulled this list of balls from, this ball was labeled “Work”. We chose to rename it employment as we recognized that all of life involves work. We have to work at maintaining all of our various relationships, while also working on maintaining our health, finances, household chores, jobs, schooling, and, and, and…
The most important thing to note about this ball is its place on the list. It is last. It can be dropped and picked up again, if needed, in order to keep the balls above it in the air. We have observed that when this ball gets put into any other position on the list of priorities, then the other balls begin to drop and get damaged. But, when this ball stays in its place, it can be a support to the other balls and help everything maintain the necessary balance to keep everything happily juggling and life happening as smoothly as it can in this crazy mixed-up world.
