Beer drinking and the "art of stopping"

I once read about an eastern philosophical concept that involves, quite simply, stopping when it time to stop. In order to achieve a feeling of comfort and peacefulness, it is important for most people to stop working for a while and do something relaxing.  I say "most people" but in reality, I can't imagine it being healthy for any human being to devote every waking moment to work and productivity.  My wife mentioned this concept once years ago as she reflected on the fact that she has trouble stopping, especially when there are household chores to be done.  But household chores are never truly finished; as soon as one thing is repaired, cleaned, or completed, something else inevitably breaks or we notice something else that is dirty or has a coating of dust on it.

Even if a person is good at stopping his or her chores in order to relax or able to limit his or her time that is devoted to job duties, other imbalances may exist.  For example, if I leave work in time to get home for dinner with my family but then polish off six beers when I get there, I'm not really applying the art of stopping to my drinking.  In all honesty, I've always struggled with stopping when engaged in leisure activities.  Sure, I'll stop cleaning the house.  No problem!  Leave those dirty dishes until tomorrow!  When I leave my office, I rarely let my unfinished tasks bother me much after I no longer have to look at them on my desk.  My problem (and I know I'm not alone) is that when it comes to things like turning off the television and going to bed at a reasonable hour, I tend to make the wrong choice.

I've gotten better at limiting my television time and at drinking in moderation, but there are always more challenges for me when it comes to stopping when I should.  I avoided getting a smart phone for a couple of years because I appreciated the simplicity of the older devices that were basically just phones.  But then, when I got a smart phone, Pandora's Box hit me right in face.  All of a sudden there were all these apps! There are some useful applications but many of them are meant for fun.  They're games, and they are very distracting to me.  Playing them for a few minutes can quickly turn into an hour or more, and then, before I know it, I don't have the time to do something I need to do.  I'm getting better at managing these, but just as with drinking, I don't feel that total abstinence is a sensible option for me.

Lately, I've been thinking that whenever I have a beer or two, part of the moderation I now practice is based on the same principle.  Just as there can be too much work in our lives, there can also be too much of certain things we enjoy.  We then cross the line from what is considered moderate consumption or "treating" ourselves into gluttony and extravagance.  This is why I consider this concept of stopping when it's necessary to do so truly is an art.  Few people possess even near-perfect balance in this respect as there is usually some aspect of our lives in which we struggle when we just need to "stop it."