Quotes About Balance

Be in the World, Not of the World—Kind of like Lucky Charms cereal: there are lots of pretty marshmallows in with the cereal, but they're not the same. So live with the cereal, but remember: you're a pretty marshmallow.

Being good all the time was a bad bargain.

One with a cubicle and a desk that snags your panty hose and endless memos about the right way to dispose of recyclables. And lots and lots of petty intrigue and small-minded politics, all intended to distract you from the fact that you're getting two percent raises from a company that's returning twenty percent to its stockholders. That's a real grown-up's job.

then is that not life in its simplest form? That so little matters so much, and so much matters so little.

Power is a tricky thing, mija. It can lift you up high on its wings and up into the sky where you feel invincible. But sometimes you forget the bigger thing that makes you fly. Without God, without love, you fall. You stop being grateful and humble, and you fall." pg. 230

A secret to happiness . . . Being part of the flow of wisdom, And understanding that all things in nature have their own form of consciousness.

Placeres y tormentos son iguales, como si el amor y su castigo fueran la misma cosa

I haven't been quite as smart about living as I have been about working. At work, everything was about precision and efficiency, while in my life everything has been about daydreaming, longing, and confusion.

in the soil too fat and happy, the praying mantises too pious and too plentiful

Everything felt both huge and small, as if the plane were hanging from a string held by the hands of gods.

Integrity battles with the desire for connection and rarely wins.

I really am a woman at peace.

Once the kids are in school, it's amazing what you can do.

Conscious fun takes effort. This seeming paradox—Why should fun be work?—stops us in our tracks. So we overindulge in effortless fun (scrolling through Instagram . . .) It is the effortful fun that makes today different, and makes today land in memory. You don't say "Where did the time go?" when you remember where the time went.

You don't become a better parent or employee by not enjoying your life.

As adults, overall, in two-parent families have spent more time working for pay, the time they spend interacting with their kids has also increased.

Since life comes up and emergencies happen, making success possible hinges on two things: being choosy about each day's priority list, and developing an accountability system that works.

Exercise doesn't take time, it makes time. Afew years ago, I gave a talk at a rather vast corporate campus. Teams aimed to cluster together, but as you might imagine with a big organization, this did not always happen. One woman told me that she had recently started working with a group located several buildings away. This meant that at least

What do I like about my schedule? What would I like to spend more time doing? What would I like to spend less time doing? How can I make that happen?

when you focus on what you do best, on what brings you the most satisfaction, there is plenty of space for everything. You can build a big career. You can build a big family. And you can meander along a Maryland creek on a weekday morning because the day is too wild and beautiful to stay inside.

when it comes to daily life, the time-crunch narrative doesn't tell the whole story. The problem is not that we're all overworked or underrested, it's that most of us have absolutely no idea how we spend our 168 hours.

Doing a lot does not mean you're doing anything important with your 168 hours.

if you were offered $400 million to never do the stuff of your work again, would you be bummed about it, despite your riches? If you would, then it's time to ask a follow-up question. If you did land a windfall, and could still do the stuff of your job, what parts of your job would you change? Given that you'd never have to work a day in your life, what would you do more of and what would you shove off your plate?

This is the 168 Hours principle for work: Ideally, there should be almost nothing during your work hours—whatever you choose those to be—that is not advancing you toward your goals for the career and life you want.