How Do You Know When You Are Doing Too Much? by Jacci Gruninger

My telltale sign that I am doing too much is that I can’t keep things organized and I forget things. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by it all. I appreciate that I have a built in slowing down practice of yoga, breathing and meditation. However, it does happen. What are your telltale signs that you are too busy? The truth is, most of us have been brought up in a culture of “busy” being the norm. And, if you aren't, the question asked is, “what’s wrong with you?”. I want people to ask me that question all day - I want to be less busy. I want to break my busy habit. And, these days, I’m less busy than I ever have been and I still want to be less busy. I also want to avoid feeling burned out, burned down and just burned to the ground.

So here are some questions to ask yourself to discover: are you doing too much?

• Do you regularly get colds or feel ill?

• Are you regularly late?

• Do you not have time to exercise or move your body?

• Do you spend time in nature?

• Do you have quiet time?

• Do you self-medicate?

• Do you overeat?

• Do you neglect friends and family?

• Do you feel overwhelmed, anxious, or stressed?

If you answered yes, to any of these questions, you might be doing too much. In yogic terms you might be out of balance and have too much rajas energy. Typically, if you have too much rajas energy you would add a bit of tamasic energy (try doing some of the positive things from the question list above) to create more sattva - balance or harmony.

You might also ask yourself these two questions:

• What is sucking the life out of me right now?

• Does this activity get me closer to my goals?

Once you have your answers, you can also consider the following: if you do or don’t do whatever it is, how will you feel about it in 5 minutes, 5 months, 5 years? What is most important right now?

This is about YOU and you living the life you want to live right now, not 10 years from now.