After the illness, then death, of a close family friend within a much too short six week period of time, I began to ponder the fragilityof life and the limited time we have here on earth... When faced with our own mortality, many of us wonder if we have made the right choices about our lives and what other paths we could have chosen.

在短短的六个星期内，经历了一个亲朋好友的病痛，死亡之后，我就开始思考生命的脆弱，以及我们到底有多少有限的时间。当我们面临死亡的那一刻，我们中的大部分人都想知道在一生中做出的选择是否都是正确的，如若不然，我们还有些什么样的其他选择。

 

 

It is important to take the time to consider our options and to evaluate the choices so that we have time to work, time to play and time to make sure our life is as fulfilling as it can be. After all, the time we do have to "get it right" is limited. Sister Jean C. Peters, CSJ says in the CSJ Newsline "I do not suggest that hard work has no place in our lives, but it cannot have the only place. A sense of leisure and a spirit of play need space in us as well".

花一些时间去考虑、评估我们做出的选择是很重要的，因为这样我们才有时间去工作，娱乐，才能确保我们的生活过得最充实。毕竟，我们能够“做对”的时间是有限的。Jean C. Peters在CSJ新闻纵横上说：“虽然我并不建议生命中不要努力工作，但是努力工作也不应该占据生活中的唯一位置。我们也需要一点悠闲的时间，一种游戏的精神。”

 

 

How do we achieve balance in our lives? It takes planning and it takes action. A friend of mine recently downgraded her job, cut her hours (and her paycheck) so she could pick up her daughter from school several times a week. It wasn't easy, but, she set up a budget and, with planning, calculated how she could live on her reduced income.