Here’s the skinny.

As someone who speaks and writes about balance (and the importance of having it in one’s life), I must admit that I only know what balance feels like in my own life because I know what imbalance feels like.

And lately, life is tornadic (is that a word?), and what imbalance feels like is thus:

Imagine you’re in one of those game show tubes in which paper currency (some $1 bills, some $5 bills, some $100 bills) flies all around you, and your goal is to grab as much of it as you can in one minute, stuffing it here, there and everywhere so that when the buzzer sounds, you’ve earned more than $1.

You spend that minute in a frenzy, waving your hands everywhere, jumping around, stuffing your hands down your shirt even when you aren’t necessarily sure you have anything in your hands to stuff down your shirt.

And imagine, if you will, having a shirt stuffed full with currency, only to learn that each of the bills is only worth $1, leaving you with $50 when, had you just relaxed and focused, you could have grabbed one of the $100 bills, been $50 richer, and far less tired and frazzled for it.

Sometimes that’s how I find myself feeling. As a mom, a business owner, a dog trainer, and a cooktop repair technician (don’t ask), I’m jumping and spinning and grabbing and terribly out of breath and all I end up with is $72 in $1 bills. Which is great, but the elation quickly wanes when the electric bill arrives and it’s $75 over what it was last month! If only I’d simply taken a moment in that proverbial tube to center myself and concentrate without flailing, perhaps I could have focused on spying one of the $100 bills, grabbed it, and finished $28 wealthier (and far less exhausted) than I did.

Are you with me?

What I’m learning, or rather what I’m training myself to remember is that moving fast doesn’t necessarily equate to doing more. Sometimes, we actually accomplish more simply by sitting down and doing absolutely nothing. And, in moving so quickly all of the time, we strongly increase the risk that we will miss important details, important moments.

As I mentioned, I know what balance looks like because I know what imbalance feels like. So, as we approach 2011, I’m starting off on the right foot. Or, rather, the right couch.

I’m getting out of this crazy money tube, grabbing a good book, putting on my feather-filled, fur-lined slippers, and sitting the heck down!

Wanna join me?

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What’s your strategy for staying centered and grounded?