Life Is Not Work, Work Is Not Life: Simple Reminders for Finding Balance in a 24-7 World

by Robert K Johnston, J. Walker Smith

Overview

In no small way, our lives have been defined by work. In order to support our work ethic, we need to refresh ourselves. And, even more important, we need to find a balance between work and the rest of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781885171542
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/01/2001
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 5.75(h) x 0.80(d)

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

A RENAISSANCE LIFE

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment. Go some distance away because a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.—Leonardo da Vinci

Such wise advice this is—from Leonardo da Vinci no less, the prodigious polymath of the Italian Renaissance. Painter, sculptor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, architect, philosopher, humanist. His legacy of work inspires us yet today. Did he ever rest? Well, he certainly believed that balance, too, is a supreme accomplishment, if not the most sublime. This archetypal Renaissance man believed that work suffers, indeed, is inharmonious and out of all proportion, if not tempered by some distance and relaxation. The genius of da Vinci's counsel is not simply that work should be paralleled by life, but rather that without a life, work itself is compromised.

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Excerpted from LIFE IS NOT WORK, WORK IS NOT LIFE by Robert K. Johnston and J. Walker Smith. Copyright © 2001 by Robert K. Johnston and J. Walker Smith. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Table of Contents

	A World from Rob	ix
	A Word from Walker	xiv
	Balance
	A Renaissance Life	1
	Work and Eggs	2
	A Breath of Everything	3
	Work, Tennis, and Family	4
	Sleep In	5
	Constant Motion	6
	The Toll of Kindness	7
	Giving Until It Feels Good	8
	Stealing from Ourselves	9
	Striking a Chord	11
	The Seventh Day	12
	Join the Dance	13
	A 29.8-Hour Day	14
	Step Off the Gas	16
	Too Much of a Good Thing	18
	Time
	Always on the Clock	20
	Nature Abhors a Vacuum	21
	The Riches of Time	23
	Time-Saving Gadgets	25
	To Do Nothing	26
	Work
	Saving My Bumper	27
	Keeping Up	30
	A Larger Calling	31
	The End of the Road	32
	In the Black, and Blue	34
	The Longest Short Kiss	35
	What's an 8-Hour Day?	36
	In Plain View	37
	Coming Back to Life	39
	Living
	Discovering the Dance	40
	Simple Satisfactions	41
	A Reverent Rhythm	42
	My Front Porch	43
	A Family Awakening	45
	Double Duty	46
	Putting Down Stakes	47
	The Sincerest Form of Flattery	49
	Stepping Over People	50
	Risking Life	51
	Re-Told Tales	53
	The Best Medicine	55
	Damn Lies & Statistics	56
	To Thine Own Self Be True	59
	Play
	Observe Your Play	62
	A Good Game Spoiled	63
	Fun If I Have To	64
	The Art of the Frivolous	66
	Posted: No Trespassing	67
	The Cleansing Power of Vacations	69
	To Play, To Live	72
	Turn Off Your Cell Phone	73
	Spirituality
	Spirituality in the Mainstream	74
	Remember Your Calling	76
	Something Beyond	77
	Body and Soul	78
	A Leap of Faith	79
	The Gift of Grace	81
	Wholeness
	More Than a Temporary Escape	82
	Wiping Off the Game Face	83
	Why Miss a Nice Day?	85
	Space for Life	87
	After Midnight	88
	Seeking the Stillness	91
	Empowerment
	Doing One Thing	93
	An End to Forgetting	94
	Romanticizing the Past	96
	Time Better Spent	98
	Searching for Simplicity	99
	Bonus Years	101
	Strength
	Life Is Too Important	102
	Looking a Hero in The Face	103
	The Gift of Discipline	104
	Joy
	Dancing Over Decorum	106
	A Time to Laugh	107
	Made By Hand	108
	Lingering with Good Friends	110
	Purposeful Play	112
	Stress
	Free to Play	113
	Chronic Stress	116
	Public Health Enemy Number One	117
	Materialism
	Relative Wealth	120
	Priorities Not Prudence	121
	A Richer Currency of Life	122
	Lots of Less	125
	The Whole Person	126
	I Shop Therefore I Am	128
	The Obligations of Ownership	130
	A New Hope	131
	Losing to Win	134
	Two Classes	135
	The New American Dream	137
	Repose
	The Pursuit of Happiness	139
	A Quiet Intersection	140
	Time Alone	142
	Forty Winks	144
	Let's Do Lunch	146
	Wonder
	A New Perspective	148
	In Harmony with the Whole	149
	The View From Nankoweap	151
	Nurture
	Every Little Bit Counts	153
	Coming Home	154
	A Richly Textured Life	156
	Unrehearsed	158
	Wake Up!	159
	Happiness
	Chasing Happiness	160
	The Price of Perfection	162
	Famously Obscure	163
	Good Works	165
	Planting Gardenias by the Dozens	167
	The Family Taste Test	169
	Authenticity
	A Summer Lesson	171
	Doing What We Say	173
	Bringing Work Home	174
	Built on Rock	176
	Changing to Stay the Same	179
	Doing Something with Ourselves	182
	Integrity
	All Over With the Shouting	183
	Grounded	185
	Cheating Ourselves	186
	Funny Business	188
	Community
	A Worldwide Whistle-Stop	191
	Only One Thing	192
	The Main Course	193
	Safety in Numbers	195
	Engaged in Sports	198
	Time for Friends	199
	Keeping Connected	201
	A Deeper Dialogue	203
	Hands-On Healing	205
	The Give-Away	207
	Fulfillment
	A Third Choice	208
	The Power of Imagination	210
	A Question of Belief	212
	The Times of My Life	214
	Sunsets	217
	Prepared for Prayer	218
	Reverence for Life	219
	Bibliography	221
	Acknowledgments	230
	About the Authors	234
	About the Press	236

Editorial Reviews

"Our desire for spiritual growth can help us balance the role of work in our lives," write Robert Johnston and J. Walker Smith in Life Is Not Work, Work Is Not Life: Simple Reminders for Finding Balance in a 24/7 World. Americans, they say, have allowed work to become too all-encompassing and must slow downnot a particularly new message, but one that is delivered here with thoughtful anecdotes and suggestions for change. Many readers will appreciate the authors' pint-sized recommendations for spiritual growth through deliberate moderation. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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