Friday

Okay...we'll confess. We're a little new to this whole social media thing. Better late than never, right? Well, one of the benefits (amid the multitudinous links to cute photos and list after list of things I'm not sure matter much) is the constant influx of useful reading material. One thing that came through Twitter today was a piece by Omid Safi, The Disease of Being Busy, (http://bit.ly/1DnWUYM) that preaches about the importance of taking a breather once in a while from the work that so frequently consumes us. He quotes W.B. Yeats:

“It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.”

Then Safi asks: "How exactly are we supposed to examine the dark corners of our soul when we are so busy? How are we supposed to live the examined life?" Work is life, or so we've been told. Don't we all know someone who seems almost proud to be stressed out? One wonders if a proclamation of how much they do is not a way for them to validate what they do, as if a perceived full schedule may cause others to assume that much has been entrusted to them, and therefore, that they are important.

There is a better path to self-esteem. Doing work that is important, sure--but doing it in such a way that it enriches the soul, improves the lives of others (professionally or otherwise), and perhaps most importantly, frees oneself to such an extent that the work of others gets noticed and appreciated. How sorely lacking is the occasional pat on the back? Many of us are working together to make this world turn in the right direction. But work is one thing--improvement is quite another. Achieving balance benefits us, our own efforts, and those with whom we work, and produces results that benefit us all. Cliches abound: "work smart, not hard"; "less is more"; "quality not quantity". Although trite, they are infinitely applicable.

It's Friday...go enjoy the weekend. You never know who will benefit.