Ah, an age old question that does not seem to be disappearing anytime soon; for humanity at large at least.

Of course, humanity in general is addicted to work and it shows up in our lives in a myriad of ways. With this attachment comes with the price tag of negligence on the home front. Or maybe you don’t work enough, have the good fortune of meaningful work, or spend too much time on the couch and checked out from connecting with coworkers or people outside of your home?

Who doesn’t do this? Even asking the question points us in the right direction.

But it is important and no longer a luxury in our evolution to not give ourselves intensional time for non-linear and non-localized time as a powerful form of self-care. We need to do this to rest, recharge and keep ourselves online; in our brains, consciousness and otherwise.

I keep in touch with an old friend who gives himself time to daydream everyday because he realized he needed to build this into the structure of his daily routine. It’s different for yours truly because daydreaming is something that has always come naturally to me. If anything, I’ve had to learn to temper and contain this tendency; without squelching the gift entirely.

More importantly, we are human beings, not doings. And yet, we have been well trained or conditioned to feel fed and feed modern society with work to do and bills to pay. I remember when one of my clinical supervisors in social work school taught me that if you give 110% all the time, when you give 100% people will think your slacking. Reminds me of the American saying, keeping up with the Joneses.

In my experience, home and work life balance is not an exact science, and requires regular self-awareness and self-examination; not without giving mindful reflection and attention to peer feedback. As more priority is giving to a healthy holistic balance in home and work life, self-care is becoming more encouraged and accepted. For example, self-care is now in our Code of Ethics as social workers; as well as other forms of counselors working in the mental health field.

Furthermore, when I notice squirrels outside; I remember their wise spiritual guidance on learning the balance between work and play. These creatures reflect this important balance in life, and it is wise of us to heed their spiritual wisdom. I’m not sure there’s any other creature on the planet that are bursting with nervous energy. Squirrels have an incredible work ethic; and yet they seemingly integrate play while they work. I have spent more time than I care to admit meditating on how I and we can learn from squirrels in this way.

Giving ourselves time in Nature, and connecting with the animals and nature spirits is a powerful form of meditation that is so replenishing. As Lao Tzu would say, Nature is the best physician. I can’t tell you how many times I went into the woods feeling depleted or drained. After about 20 minutes, the forrest seems to embrace a human who is willing to sit, watch and listen.

And then as I walked out of the woods, a feeling of being refreshed and recharged magically awakened within. As with anything else, the seeing yourself experiencing this balance transforms itself when an intention and commitment to the mirror of the mind meditation is followed through with consistently.

In my profession, there is always something else we can do to help people. However, like one of my favorite life mantras that resonated from the book, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff; the incoming box is always full, and the outgoing box is never empty.

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Ari