Recently, I was reaching into a cupboard for plastic dinner plates for a casual meal with family when I spent longer than a second looking at the compartments on one of these plates. If I put too much into one section, it's going to spill over into another. And more importantly, if I fill the plate with too much altogether, the food will begin to fall off of its side. Is this not what we do sometimes with our lives? We may have obligations in one section and try to do more than we can, so they overflow into another. Doesn't this shortchange our energy or attention to that other sector? Or better yet, all the sections may be filled beyond capacity and the plate has food falling over that we can neither catch nor ever possibly eat. Sound familiar?
In reality, we sometimes need the perspective of another objective person who can help us to recognize that the sections of our plate are overflowing and what the ramifications are when we can’t focus on all the areas properly. They may help us by asking: Are we really going to eat all of that? Will we be able to make it to the table with such a full plate? What can we take off of the plate to make it more manageable? How can we make it all taste better?
"Time is a continual over-dropping of moments,
which fall down one upon the other and evaporate."
-Jean Paul Richter