Work-Life Balance
December 2006

You’ve been trying for years – multitasking, negotiating limits, apologizing, and recommitting to a more balanced relationship between family and work. Sometimes you feel on top of it and other times you feel it’s a hopeless cause. Your last resort line, “I work this hard for the family!” falls flat as it should. We know these things from experience.

Of course the preliminary solution lies in better time management and priority setting – but this is the “necessary, yet insufficient” element of what leads to the complete harmony that’s possible. The rest of it comes from your heart of course. Are you able to be fully present when you do spend time with your family? There’s nothing worse than attempting to spend quality time with your family while you’re preoccupied with work, and then argue that work isn’t really more important.

So this holiday season presents another opportunity – regardless of how many times you’ve blown it in the past. You can put your heart in to whatever time you spend with your family – and see what comes of it.

· Rally the men of the tribe – from the little ones to the old geezers – to relieve the women from whatever your family has always considered “women’s work”

· Invest yourself in really listening to the “incessant talker” who everyone avoids at the big gathering

· Reach out to your “outlier siblings” by discussing something intimate that really matters to you with them

· Light a candle for peace in honor of some of your distant family members instead of hassling over what to send them in the mail; and tell them why they inspire you to think about peace

But you’ll have your own better ideas. Your heart always knows how to find the harmony and sense of balance you long for. It’s in there if you stop long enough to reflect and tell yourself the truth about what really matters. Happy Holidays from LionHeart - and keep holding out for a peaceful New Year.