I used to hear people discuss trying to achieve "balance" and I had no idea what they meant. I wasn't very busy, wasn't married, didn't have numerous commitments to numerous people, didn't have a mortgage, and wasn't even getting paid much to do what I did.

That's all changed now. I have many responsibilities - a wife, a mortgage, several jobs, many career goals, half a dozen informal "life" students, patients to take care of, people I don't have time to catch up with, friends I haven't seen in a month, readers who want their questions answered, kittens who meow and need lots of love, and one day there will be children as well!

Now I know how they felt when they pined for that elusive balance.

The question of era is: How do we get all our work done, satisfy our loved ones, make our dreams a reality, exercise our bodies, engage our minds, have fun, relax, spend time, stay healthy, serve others, refresh ourselves with solitary time, stay connected with God, read new books, expand our horizons, feel good - how do we fit all that into week without feeling overwhelmed and exhausted?

We know answer to that question is balance - somehow we must put right time and energy into each one - but how can we find, achieve, or improve on that elusive balance?

Obviously everyone is different. Some of us are great at spending time with loved ones but not so efficient at work. Some of us meet all our career goals but neglect our loved ones and never exercise. Some of us do family and career well but are quite unhealthy. So, we all start where we are. But where do we go from there?

A: Memory function is a complex issue that an overly simplistic herbal approach cannot solve.

Why Gingko Doesn’t Always Work For Memory Popular magazines said that gingko was herbal memory cure, but people's experience and science have not borne this out. I'm not surprised. In Chinese medicine, we recognize that one symptom can be have multiple causes. We have to look for root, and look at surrounding symptoms and signs to find appropriate cure.

Your memory loss/concentration could be due to something that gingko can address, or to something else. If you give it to a bunch of people without first differentiating cause of their problem, you won't know who will get better and who won't. Although gingko is a Chinese herb, we generally don't use it for memory or concentration problems. It does "move blood," though, so problems due to "blood stagnation" might improve with it.

The Root Causes of Memory and Concentration So what are causes of memory loss and concentration problems? The disease of Impaired Memory (Jian Wang) is subdivided into:*

Heart/Spleen vacuity: Caused by overthinking, overwork, insufficient nutrition. Symptoms of palpitations, insomnia, fatigue, poor appetite, loose stool.