Balancing Act

I'm working on an article for a children's magazine at the moment called, "Balancing Act." It's about an artist I discovered in Germany while I was there over the summer. His name is Sepp Boegle, and he balances rocks in the most unusual way - on their tippy toes, their elbows, their heads, and yes, their chinny chin chins.

It's pretty amazing. No glue necessary. It's all a matter of listening to the rocks and finding their balance. He told me he does it because it helps him find his inner balance. I started wondering, how do we each find our inner balance? Mine seems to be helterskelter most days, with two kids and their activities, my writing life, my husband's busy work schedule, the dog, all that stuff. Sepp got rid of everything and has only two suitcases that hold all of his earthly possessions.

I'm not ready to chuck family life by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to find the eye of the storm. Is it possible for a family to do that? Four lives rotating on different axes around different interests and needs. Or is that why the Buddha himself left his family to find inner peace? Do the two exclude each other? I've never heard of a wise man or woman with a mortgage, teenage kids, a spouse, and dinner to get on the table. So I'm putting it out there into the world - is inner peace possible if you are dealing with a quantity more than ONE???