“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” - Henry Van Dyke

The past two Mondays, I’ve written about some rather serious topics so I thought I’d lighten it up a bit this week by sharing a few thoughts about some things I do to help myself stay balanced, and focussed on what really matters, in the workplace. I hope you’ll find some ideas here that could work for you and I’d appreciate your sharing other ideas that have helped you in your workplace.

The underlying theme behind any ideas like those I share below is that most of us are healthiest, and best balanced, when we work to live and not when we live to work. Things that help our workplace reflect who we are, and what matters most to us, can help make our workspaces more comfortable and welcoming. They can serve to remind us of the people, ideas, and feelings that give our life its greatest meaning. They can also help us connect with our coworkers by providing some insight into who we are.

For me, what matters most in life is the relationships I have with my loved ones and friends, the beauty, peace, and wonder of the natural world, and the ways we use art to share our feelings and impressions with others. When you look around my office, you’ll see family photos, paintings and photographs on the walls, plants growing, books on topics that interest me, and personal keepsakes that carry special memories.

I know that some businesses and organizations have policies that limit the personal items employees may include in their workspaces. While I understand the motivation for these in ensuring that public spaces shared with our customers represent the organization, and in ensuring that the workplace is comfortable and welcoming for all employees, I think that policies like these need to be written and enforced in a way that allows people appropriate opportunities for self expression.

In my office, the vast majority of items serve both to create a positive work environment and as reminders to me of what matters most. The plants are not only green and beautiful, but some have special personal meaning like the philodendron that has been in my wife’s family for years that my brother-in-law gave me, and the creeping charlie that has been in my family since the 1970s. The paintings and photographs are beautiful in their own right and most are the work of my uncle or brother-in-law, or keepsakes from special trips. In fact, one of my uncle’s paintings depicts our family home when I was in college and includes this very same creeping charlie hanging from the eaves.

My bookshelves include books on, and in, the Irish language, musical scores, the Tao Te Ching, poetry and other personal interests. The “wallpaper” pictures on my computer screen are a rotating series of photos of my loved ones and of special places we have traveled together. There are photos of our sons, and a photo of my wife and I in Yosemite Valley on our wedding day with Bridalveil Fall in the background. You’d be amazed how quickly the other tourists clear a space for a woman in a wedding dress to have her picture taken!

The keepsakes in my office are there to remind me of what matters and they help keep me grounded and acting in accordance with my values. Seven weeks ago, on September 14, I wrote about the Jar of Life story that I first heard from my sister, Nancy, and the jar of golf balls on my desk reminds me of this. The desktop rock garden pictured in the photo with today’s essay includes rocks and shells from many special places we’ve traveled and each holds a special memory for me. I can even remember the moments when loved ones handed me some of these.

We all have difficult times as we pursue our work. Having these reminders around me can be so helpful when I am feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, or simply unmotivated. They provide me tangible evidence that the work I do serves some higher purpose, that I am a man of principles and beliefs, and that I love and am loved. Sometimes I’ll pick up one of those rocks and remember the feeling of first taking its weight into my hand from the warm hand of a loved one and it is just as if they are there ready to take my hand and encourage me. Having the plants to care for can be a wonderful source of peace and relaxation, too. There are also times in every working life when we feel joy, accomplishment, and pride in what we have done. Having these reminders of the greater life I live beyond my work can make those moments sweeter still.

My office is something of a work in progress as I add new mementos from special moments. I hope to incorporate many of these into an office space in my home that I will use in retirement. I even have some ideas I’ve never acted on in my current work space. It’s clear that I enjoy words as a way of sharing and remembering ideas and quotations that capture important feelings and ideas particularly well.

I remember a wonderful space in the Land Pavilion at Epcot where the walls are covered with quotes. In this waiting area for the “Living with the Land” boat ride, there are wonderful quotes everywhere you look. These have changed over the years and this doesn’t surprise me as there are so many great ideas to share. That place inspired me and I’ve often thought I’d enjoy finding some way to include some of my favorite quotes in my office space. Maybe I’ll find a way to do that as I create an office space in our home.I think I’d have to find a way to allow these to change, too, as I have so many favorites!

We are each so much more than what we do for a living and what we do can also be an important part of who we are. I know that surrounding myself with positive images, reminders, and feelings has helped me be my best. I’d be curious to hear from some of you whether this has been the same for you and to know what other ideas you’ve found to include these in your workspaces.