Over a quarter century ago, writer Dianne Hales fell in love with the Italian language and has invested much time in learning to speak it. I spent the holiday weekend sharing her adventures thanks to her delightful book, La Bella Lingua.

What Hales discovered along the way—which explains why this is about much more than simply becoming bilingual—is that the Italian language has had a deep impact on creating the culture.

Readers of the book are treated to discussions about music, art, history, literature, movies, cuisine and, even, profanity (which the Italians have elevated to an art form of its own).

One of my favorite stories appears in the chapter La Storia dell’Arte where Halle introduces us to an artist that was part of the early Renaissance scene. Tomasso Guido only lived to be 27 and just a few of his paintings exist, but they were so different to the style of other artists around him that they helped other painters to see things in a new way.

He was also, apparently, a workaholic. As Hales reports, “He was so on fire with le cose dell’arte (literally ‘the things of art’ or artistic matters) that he paid no attention to the clothes he wore, the food he ate, the money he received or owed—and went down in history as Masaccio, or Messy Tom.”

Masaccio is not alone. One of the most difficult things for all of us is to create a life of balance. We all know when life gets out of balance, although we may not notice it until it becomes extreme.

Nevertheless, in every nook and cranny of our lives, balance is necessary if we are to feel peaceful and powerful. Too much of anything can throw everything out of whack.

This notion runs counter to the popular advice to make “singleness of purpose” and “blinding commitment” our operating philosophy. That is not the path to a balanced life.

A woman in a seminar once told me she’d started a gardening business  that had become so successful that she’s busy all summer long. “Now I don’t enjoy my own garden anymore,” she complained.

She had decided the solution was to give up her gardening business and find something new. I thought a more reasonable option was to start a non-gardening profit center and keep only the clients she really enjoyed. I’m not sure I managed to convince her.

 In seeking balance, we often eliminate when it makes more sense to moderate. It’s not diversity that causes us to lose our balance: monotony and repetition are the culprits.

Creating diversity can be a great balancer since it allows us to tap into different passions. It’s also necessary to constantly reassess and discard what no longer works, what we’ve outgrown. 

Next time, I’ll show you how I managed to find balance amidst the passion. Stay tuned.