ALIGNMENT

A debut manual offers a blueprint for creating new patterns in work and life.

Keller Wood opens her book by discussing an extremely relevant topic in 21st-century America: discovering the right work-life balance. She suggests that this balance is not only impossible to find, but also illusory—either people are ignoring work-related things they should be doing, or they’re neglecting their lives in favor of their jobs, particularly when their occupations involve helping others. But “having work that is of service to the world,” Keller Wood writes, “does not require a life of monastic self-sacrifice.” The way she proposes to avoid these kinds of problems is to abandon the idea of balance and instead concentrate on “alignment.” The key to this concept is the trick of seeing life as a mosaic whose innumerable little pieces will realign themselves in response to changes in employment, family, health, and other factors. Each piece supports the others and gives the mosaic long-term durability. Drawing on her experience in the Montessori school of teaching, Keller Wood stresses this flexibility and the “interleaving” (“resting from one kind of work” and switching to another)that’s characteristic of the educational method. The author asks readers: “If your body is weary from physical work, is there a more abstract problem you could puzzle over?” Keller Wood never avoids the “hard truth” that all the pieces of the mosaic she describes are temporary. Nonetheless, she writes with grace and genuine enthusiasm about her conviction that her readers can overcome the situation where “we have a lot on our plate, but we’re feeling less connected to the meaning behind it” and discover personal alignments that will improve their lives. Her lively book is full of vivid narrative examples drawn from her own life and the experiences of others as well as helpful writing exercises and “reflection questions” designed to make her less of a teacher and more of a Montessori-style “guide.” Teachers at all levels will consider the book useful, and harried, overworked readers will find it a welcome call to slow down and take stock.

A warm, valuable, and empathetic guide to forging personal alignments that will rejuvenate lives.