Sona was one of the Buddha's most energetic students and still getting nowhere, so he started thinking he'd do more good going home to his family's money. The Buddha came to see him and asked about his old life, when he played the lute. When the strings were too tight, the lute wouldn't play, and when they were too slack, it wouldn't play either; tuned to the middle, it did. Energy strung too tight turns into restlessness, the Buddha told him, and too loose turns into laziness, so find the middle and settle there. It's an oddly practical thing to say to a man about to quit, and it worked. You've probably got one of each going right now, one habit strung too tight and another gone slack. Choose the one that sounds worst to you, and ease it a quarter turn toward the middle today.