As of this month, I have a life balance. I understand that preserving this balance is a difficult task. I have found balance a few other times in my life, and then surrendered it.

As of now I am trying to balance work on my latest book, an exercise routine, service work, time for family, time for my spiritual life, with a bit of travel.

I have achieved a similar balance a few times before. However, every previous time I thought I had a balance I surrendered it for some temporary goal. I would surrender exercise when asked to work more overtime. I would surrender travel so I could try to fit exercise back into an overloaded schedule. I frequently neglected my spiritual life, then I seemed to try to make up for lost time by devoting what might have been an excessive amount of time to spiritual reading, prayer, and meditation.

Family time is one of the most fragile aspects of my balance. When I did a lot of business travel, I would be away from home for weeks on end. However, when I look back on those times I realize it was a choice. I was struggling with what felt like oppressive connections and believe I chose business travel as an escape.

I am content today with my family life. I am content with slow gradual progress on my book and do not plan to let it become an all consuming compulsion.

There is a bit of risk that I might over indulge in exercise. At times I have gotten into lengthy daily bicycle rides. A few years ago I became so obsessed that I to was ridding 500 km (311 miles) in a week. Since I was working a full time job and had a variety of service commitments, that was excessive - but it really felt great. I am going to try to avoid allowing that compulsion to overwhelm me again.

Actually, I hope that I have learned enough about obsessive behavior that I might be able to remain in balance indefinitely. However, I am going to do it one day at a time.