Two of Pentacles
The art of juggling life
Riding in an ambulance instead of being at an important business meeting was not in my plans for this day.
The babysitter had just arrived to watch my 5 year old twin boys. I was on my way out the door to attend a conference where I was one of the presenters. The boys were running around (as young boys do) when one slipped, fell, and cut his forehead.
At once she called 911 while I attended to the wound and tried to soothe both boys. Next, one son and I were in the ambulance while the other stayed home with the sitter.
The glass balls in the air shifted from my conference preparations to a child getting stitches.
The trick to juggling is determining which balls are made of rubber, and which are glass. the Two of Pentacles is the perfect illustration of this balancing act.
Last week we discussed holding two conflicting ideas at one time and the struggle between head and heart. We need to determine which ideas are fact and which are made up stories and learn to trust our feelings in the process. This gives us clarity of direction in life.
This week is about juggling all the pieces of your life.
Work, family, hobbies, friends, health… they all demand a part of you. When you throw in holidays, car breakdowns or serious illness, something’s bound to drop!
The key is to know your priorities at any given moment. This will change, constantly! On a normal day, family and work may be top priority with chores and hobbies taking a back seat. But if the car breaks down and affects work and family, it suddenly takes priority so everything else can get back on track.
Take a look at the picture of the woman juggling. Despite the storm raging in the background, she stays calm and focused on what needs to “stay in the air”.
Juggling all the pieces of your life isn’t about keeping strict priorities that never change. Don’t misunderstand me here. This doesn’t mean that your family (or your job, or your health) isn’t always your top priority - a glass ball that you never want to drop. It’s about being flexible in the moment.
It means that while your kids may be #1 at the top of your priorities in life, today, the flat tire that needs to be repaired so you can get to work and provide for your family suddenly becomes a glass ball (for the time being, until its repaired).
It’s not always going to be emergencies that shift our priorities.
One day your focus might be on going to the gym while another day is lunch with friends or Sunday dinner with the family. On weekdays work is likely a priority while on weekends family time take center stage.
I love to read and I love sitting at my spinning wheel spinning yarn. These hobbies always have a place in my schedule at least once or twice a week. However, when I’m creating a course or writing a new book, those hobbies become low priority (often ignored for weeks at a time) while I focus on creating. When I’m finished creating, I allow myself a break from that mental task and allow my other interests back into the mix.
Juggling the pieces of your life is a give and take, understanding which balls are made of glass, which are rubber, and which need to be set on the table (for now).
Which pieces of your life are the glass balls, and which are rubber? What parts of your life have you set aside? Is it time to bring those back into the mix? Are you still trying to juggle things that can actually be set aside?
What I’m Reading This Week
Here are some other ‘stacks that have caught my attention this week. Check them out and subscribe or share if you like what they have to say:
Enjoy how you intertwine real life scenarios into the card exploration :-) Thanks for sharing...