If you're new here, check out the Best of Balanced Life Center and be sure to subscribe to receive the latest updates via email or RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I suck at bowling. My all time high is 67 and my average is around 35 (it’s that high because of the 67). I’m one of those bowlers that throw the ball down the lane as if I’m playing toss on the floor with a 2 year old, except I do it with a lot more force. Once I toss the ball down the lane, I wriggle my body around in the direction that I want the ball to go in. Alas! The ball ends up in the gutter just barely missing the outside pin.

This display amuses my husband who is an avid bowler. His high is in the 260’s, and his average is 182 (that’s because he bowled drunk a couple times and I beat him ). He perfects his posture, the position of the ball, even his run up to the lane. Then he releases the ball with a straight arm and follows through the release. He stays in that pose for about 5 seconds as he watches the ball knock down all the pins in a strike.

In bowling, and in life, we have 99% control over the set up and release of the ball, and less than 1% control over the pins on the other end. So why do we spend so much time and energy trying to manage the pins in life?

In Spirit,
Nneka