I'm Engaged! - how to fully exercise the faculties of the soul

I admit that I have been on a rather strange quest the past year and a half or so: the pursuit of being human. As if I could be anything besides human. Truthfully, I cannot be otherwise, but somehow I have found behaving "humanly" to be a most difficult challenge.

This begs the question "What does it mean to be human?" I honestly don't have a very strong or straightforward answer to that. Humanity is a mystery. Where we might see angels as having pure intellect and animals as having pure instinct, we then find this species "man" in this middle-earth so to speak where he can both aesthetically appreciate the flowers, as well as materially smell them. So what does it mean to be human?

In his book The Abolition of Man Lewis describes a third element of man, the sentiment, which is neither intellect nor instinct, stating that it is this which distinguishes man from the angels and the brutes.

Here is the challenge I face: to exercise all of the faculties of the human soul thereby fully engaging in the world. To be fully present in all facets at each given moment.

This poses a new question. Supposing one could actually achieve this level of engagement at particular times, is there then no place for "down time"? After an exhausting day, it is customary to seek a relief from the faculty that has been most exercised by enjoying some activity that excludes that particular faculty. If I've been thinking all day, the inclination would be to watch an unintellectual movie. If I have been emotional or depressed, I would desire to watch a comedy, or play a game, or do something "fun" that I sentimentally care little to nothing about. Perhaps if I had a physically tiresome day, I would be inclined to sit back and read a book.

If a holistic approach to living would involve a fully engaged soul, or a soul coherently exercising all of its faculties all of the time, then where is the place for this said "down time"?

On the one hand, I can fathom a hypothetical, healthy soul who requires no such thing, but rather whose "wellness" is a continual balance of faculties. On the other hand, I know from experience that it becomes problematic to always think all of the time; it would be like always running, or worse, always crying. Perhaps denying such down time is to make the mistake of "thinking we can do always what we can do sometimes."

If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would greatly appreciate hearing them. I'm trying to learn how one puts this into practice.