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Today's
Meditation:
I'm all for taking responsibility and making and
keeping commitments; I think one of the most important
things that we can do to make our lives more positive is
to be someone that other people can trust and depend
on. But I also really enjoy the pleasures in life--
the long walks on a nice day, the picnics by the
lake, the peaceful morning spent at home doing nothing,
watching good movies and reading good books. I know
far too many people who are so buried in commitments that
they never really have any time to do anything fun with
their friends, and they burn out so quickly when they live
like that.
While I kind of wish that it would be possible to live an
unbalanced life with the pleasure side outweighing the
commitment side, I also know that that wouldn't be such a
good thing-- one of the factors that makes the pleasures so
enjoyable is the knowledge that we have lived up to our
commitments in order to be able to spend time on a
pleasure or three.
Commitments are extremely important. A life without
commitment is empty indeed, devoid of purpose or
direction. But far too often we see commitment as
the main purpose of our life, or we fall into the trap of
over-committing ourselves so that we lose out on many of
the pleasures. Too many people have come to the end
of their days with tons of regrets for having spent too
much time at the office and too little time with their
families. And those pleasures are the things that
recharge our energy, that refresh us and re-invigorate us
so that we can come back to our commitments with new
energy and more staying power.
Life is about balance. It always has been, and it
always will be. One of the most important balances
that we can find is that between our commitments and our
enjoyment, because either one without the other simply
results in diminished returns and little satisfaction.
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