Balance in a Techno World—Part 1
Unless it’s happening to us, we can often smile at or maybe even laugh with someone losing their balance, as long as they don’t hurt themselves. There are some scars on my right knee from a mountain biking accident this past summer. I was not laughing about that, at the time. It could have been worse.
Often we think about balance in the physical realm. Toddlers learn to walk as their brains kick in to help them balance. The perfect golf swing, or ball through a hoop, or crucial catch of a football takes balance. In politics and commerce, there is the balance of power and spending.
This is being written from a hotel balcony in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii while observing some adventurous souls learning to balance on paddle boards. Some get it and take off for the far horizon. Others? Oops! Splash…! And they try again.
We, sometimes, think of balancing our checkbooks. Balancing our work and play. Bringing balance into our meaningful relationships. Having a balanced diet. Balancing our consumerism and our charitable interests.
Yet, often, in the extreme busyness of our lives, thinking about and then doing balancing is a lot like making New Year’s resolutions—our hopes and ideas are excellent. Necessary. In the moment, most welcome. Then, somehow, life happens, the unexpected shows up, even good news can arrive, and we begin to lose the balance about what we promised ourselves.
Our old friend Mr. Webster defines balance as a noun that is the state of having your weight spread equally so that you do not fall; the ability to move or remain in a position without losing control or falling; a state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts or have an equal or proper amount of importance.
In the leadership mentoring that has been my life work for the past 33 years with emerging leaders from around the globe, balance, what is taking place at the core of one’s life, is the beginning place of living as a whole person. These days, prime questions prevail on any continent.
How do I maintain life balance in a techno-advanced world?
What are the ways I intentionally explore, find, and live into and out of the unique design that is me, a man with focus and purpose?
What is my true self as a man?
Who am I beyond the “what” it is I do?
What is it that I do for others that makes my developing masculine soul come alive with deep delight at making a difference in our world?
Where, with whom, and when is my strength, insight, skill, brilliance, compassion needed with my family, my current work associates, my friends?
Gents, these questions are not taking us to navel gazing, or star gazing. Confident modern gladiators are more intentional than that.
As sure as I am sitting here watching humpback whales spout and breach offshore and that father/son duo finally getting the hang of paddle boarding, we, as men of any age, need to pay attention to balancing our lives no matter what is taking place around us. Or within us.
Ponder these questions. This discussion will be continued…
About the Author: Wes Roberts
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