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I am a single, non-obese couch potato - no children, no responsibilities, no job. I have saved enough money to stay that way. I just don't know what to do for work... sometimes I just feel like meditating all the time. I am 33. I spend most of my time reading a lot of self help on the computer. My ideas of work are always ambitious and I do nothing about it - except think about it. Sometimes I feel frustrated that nothing is opening for me to go out into the world and do some work. What's wrong with me?

You say you are ambitious. There is an old Chinese saying - "Man with head in the clouds and feet on the ground must be very big man." In this saying the man has both his head in the clouds and his feet on the ground. It's the feet on the ground bit that is missing in your life - you are way out of balance.

Dreaming, fantasizing, reading and thinking all come very naturally to you, but all this means nothing unless the dreams and thoughts are made practical by making sure your life is of service to others. You need to get out of your head and into the world of action.

To do this may seem unnatural at first, but this is your healing path. I suggest you give up meditation and only read self help material for a maximum of 15 minutes a day. You need to get up off your but and get a voluntary job. There are many voluntary jobs you could do in your locality - pick one that interests you, preferably one that involves working with other people. If the job involves getting your hands dirty all the better - I used to feel spaced out like you and got a voluntary job working with a local woodsman. After a few weeks I felt brilliant, I was literally more conscious of having my feet planted on the earth and felt much more whole and integrated.

Even if you feel only a tiny bit interested, your interest will grow with involvement. Because this will feel unnatural at first you will be tempted to give it up. Resist this temptation. Remember that for you to come back into balance you must encourage and nurture the practical, feet on the ground stuff.

As you settle into your voluntary job your consciousness will begin to shift and you will start to rebalance. Then you will feel drawn to search for an opening into a paying job. You may have enough money at present but you need to be mindful of your future financial needs well beyond the present. As you continue to rebalance by becoming more and more grounded and practical, you will quite naturally feel drawn to taking on responsibilities in other areas of your life, like relationships, family and children.

It's important for you to stay away from meditation for the foreseeable future - with your lack of grounding it is only spacing you out.

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