It’s the life-work balance you have to get right, and it’s just not that easy. Ah yes – the conversation hangs there as we think about that. Balancing is an act necessary for a successful modern life. The reason why it’s such a perilous enterprise is the picture we have and the meaning we give. The tightrope walker, high above the ground is focused on a single strand. Laser like concentration, one mistake, one foot wrong and disaster surely follows. Google the word – a situation where something, or someone is put in a steady position so that it does not fall. Tense, careful. Harmony is a distant echo.

The Tai Chi master stands with both feet on the ground, weight evenly spread. Comfortable, relaxed. Ready, alert. That too is balance. A situation in which different elements are equal or are in the correct proportions, another Google search. Harmony is close at hand. Shift weight, balance moves, control is near and it is strong.

The seasons change and decay gives way to new life, winter yields to spring. Slumber gives way to wakefulness as night becomes day. Balance is all around us, the unseen hand that drives the universe. Galaxies swirl their outstretched arms, billions of brilliant suns turning around the irresistible gravitational pull of a black hole. All of existence is in balance. All in harmony.

My inner, private life is balanced with my public commitments and daily round. As much as I seek lofty ideals and wild imaginings, so I must also remain grounded. Inasmuch as I would set out with full sail before the wind, so must I also have a firm grasp of the rudder. Balance and harmony is not a modern problem. It’s been a force present from the dawn of time. Our challenge is to come back to its power, for truthfully in our haste and noise balance has been lost.