Masonic Musings #6

Balance

One of the often looked at working tools in Freemasonry is the 24 inch gauge. It's a tool that speaks to how a Freemason should divide their time for not only their vocation, but also for service to God, our neighbors, and lastly ourselves, by taking the time to rest.

The piece many miss in the lesson and discussion of the tool is the lesson of balance.

So often in life we find ourselves taking on projects, saying yes to help someone out, and of course for many there are the worlds of social media and online gaming where we can spend our time. It's not that any of those things are inherently bad, nor is it that just because something doesn't fall within the confines of the lesson of the 24 inch gauge we shouldn't do them, we just need to do them in moderation.

I've often fallen into the trap where I'm focused on a particular area of my life and it becomes all encompassing. It becomes the thing that eats up the majority of my time and I'm suddenly unable, or unwilling, to shift gears into something else that needs attention. That inability to change direction causes things to become unbalanced, which in turn causes stress and frustration.

There are many ways to look at the 24 inch gauge and this is by far one of the more important ways to look at it. Yes, we need to divide our time so we can support the things that need our attention but we also need to strive for that balance. Why is that balance so important? Without balance you can't be present in the moment, focused on what you are doing and where you are.

When you're at work do you think about being home with your family? When you're on vacation do you think about that email or presentation that needs to be done for work? Those are just a couple of relatively straight forward examples that so many of us fall into. The same could be said of our Masonic obligations - just one more meeting won't hurt things, but when was the last time you spent the evening with your non-Masonic family? I know, perish the thought.

If you want to have a good laugh and see just what a lack of balance looks like, watch the movie RV with Robin Williams. You get to see an individual put a lot of emphasis on just one aspect of his life and see how it impacts those around him.

It's also important to understand that we're also not talking about just the 24 hours in a given day, this is a lifetime of work. You may be out of balance one day and then swing too far back the other direction the next day. The net result is balance in your life and that's the real goal, to live a balanced life, one where you can accomplish what you set out to do, help those that need your assistance, and take of yourself. Of course we should strive to keep the swings more moderate in nature.

At the end of the day we all have the same 24 hours in a day, it's not about how much you get done in those hours, it's about how you use them. It's about striving for the balance that lets you be present and hopefully enjoy those moments.