A Question of
Balance
By David Finney
I have a problem with the term
“work/life balance.” It implies
that life begins when work
finishes. The words we use are
critical to our self-awareness, our
situation-reading and to our learn-
ing and development, and yet
we pick up phrases like jackets
in a wardrobe, trying them on for
size and sometimes keeping on
something that doesn’t quite fit in
the absence of anything better.
Our conversations are derived
from a variety of sources: educa-
tion, literacy, sound- bites from
the media, parental hand-me-
downs and phrases we’ve picked
up from our friends, family or
a goal around. But what if WLB
yang in the I Ching, the ancient
business colleagues. Words are
is reinforcing the belief that the
Chinese classic text. The yin and
not truly our own. They sit on a
working day is simply a prelude to
yang represent the negative and
large menu from which we make
a sigh of relief at the end of it?
positive forces in the universe and
our selection, in an attempt to
What if these words are encour-
the “dynamic balance of oppo-
find the right combination that
aging us to view work as an inter-
sites”.
suits the way we are feeling at
any given time.
ruption in our lives?
The Chinese language itself
Balance of opposites
works in a similar way, using ant-
Interpreting stress
Chinese philosophy has always
onyms. These are opposite words
The phrase “work/life balance”
been intrigued with balance:
placed side by side to represent
originated in the eighties. It
night and day, high and low,
a concept. So “hei” (black) plus
seemed ok at the time: a way of
winter and summer, dark and light,
“bai” (white) represents moral-
interpreting stress, a reminder to
black and white, left and right,
ity. “Cheng” (success) plus “bai”
leave the office before dark. It’s a
phrase we have picked up, taken
false and true, female and male,
on board and maybe even formed
as encapsulated by the yin and
See BALANCE page 56
Fall 2009
aspiremag.net
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