A few blog entries back, I mentioned that striving for balance includes giving attention to how various aspects of our lives—work, family, friends/community, and self–fit together in such a way that is stable, sustainable, and meaningful.

I want to pass along an exercise that I’ve used in my own life as well as in my work with clients that can be helpful in this process of striving for balance. It’s called The Time Pie (credit to Alice Domar PhD), and is a way for you to identify how you can care for yourself in order to give more fully to your responsibilities.

Giving to your work, to your family, friends, and community from a full self instead of an exhausted and depleted self helps lay the groundwork for you to be able to give well, without bitterness or resentment, but instead with an open heart and greater joy.

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I’m familiar with someone who put together an excel spreadsheet so that she could track where each member of her family needed to be, on which day, at what time, and how they would get there! When I first heard about this, I had a couple of gut reactions. My first thought was– “Wow—this is the new definition of supermom!” Then, my thoughts turned to wondering how the multitude of ‘who needs to be where and by what time’ takes its toll on this family.

The reality is, with today’s opportunities for children and the variety of demands on our families, balance is often a foreign concept.

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