Juggling Mama!

I'm very encouraged. I'm down 40 lbs & I'm in the groove. I'm feeling better, recovering from illnesses faster, so far so good.

Since the boys have been born I have made my login name "Juggling Mama" because I feel like that's my life - juggling everything all the time. But I've expanded the view to the general rule of balance. I've heard it said that "balance is that thing you see while swinging between extremes." Isn't that the truth!

So I was contemplating juggling this morning - I personally can't juggle but Kurt can & I've heard that the key to juggling is keeping your eyes fixed somewhere above where the balls are passing through. If you fixate on one of the balls, you will drop the others. But you have to fixate on each individual ball for a while to get the hang of it. First, you bounce one ball up & down until that becomes second nature. Then you throw it between one hand and another until that becomes second nature. Next comes two balls - you must throw them across as well as with each hand individually for a while until that becomes a natural motion. Then the real trick - adding a third ball. This is where you're really tested - focusing on the general and not on the individual - trusting your sensation but not over thinking the action. Once you have the feeling of three it's easier to add four and so on - until you reach your limit and can't add any more.

As it applies to dieting - I had to focus on each component of why I was overeating before I could put it all together to achieve results. Many people have one or two areas down but not all three so either they are good at exercise but still eat a package of cookies at a sitting. Or they are great at "dieting" but within months of achieving their goal they gain it all back. Or they are great at analyzing but never move out of their head to apply what they have learned and begin making changes. It's tricky but I believe the key is paying attention to all the pieces individually and then making the leap to put them all into motion at once and see what it feels like to juggle.

As it applies to life - to achieve success - either in marriage, in work, spiritually - it requires paying attention to ourselves - what REALLY makes us happy, what we REALLY want to accomplish - then paying attention to the other piece of the puzzle - our mate's needs, our job requirements, what success in a spiritual sense would mean - and then putting the pieces together and in motion all at once and see if we can find that right balance. It's tough and we never get it all right. Then you add kids - those would be balls 3, 4, & 5 & let's see how well you do! Chaos.

The encouraging part is that anyone can learn to juggle if they put their mind to it. It's going to be the rare instance that someone CAN'T learn - and that goes for life's juggling as well. It takes time and until you find the trick, it feels like it's beyond you - but you can do it, if that's what you really want.