Every Yin Needs a Yang. Life becomes so much more interesting when we understand the dependency that one thing has on another. So often, especially in areas of life that bother me, I find myself wanting to live a life devoid of pain, discomfort, or inconvenience. I want to just live on the side where everything goes my way most always. I think that’s true of all of us. What person wants something negative to occur in their life? What person wants to get that phone call where someone we care for has been injured or ill?
The answer to that is very simple, of course: no one does.
There’s a very interesting Chinese religious and philosophical symbol. It is found in Taoism/Daoism. The symbol I am referring to is the yin–yang symbol. Maybe you have seen it before. The yin-yang symbol is a circle with a swirly white on one side and a black equal size swirly on the other. Each side or color represents something different.
The yin, which is the dark swirl, is associated with shadows or negativity. The yang swirl is associated with light or positivity. If one is to survive then the other must survive alongside it. One of the things that I have learned in my recovered life is that both sides are needed to give me the balance and appreciation I desire for a healthy life.
It is not that I invite or necessarily look forward to the dark swirl in my life. What I do know is that negative things happen in the cycle of one’s life. As much as I don’t invite it I recognize it as being a necessary component in living. So often I learn my greatest lessons when something occurs that I either don’t agree with or an event that would cause me pain. When those things do occur, I can use what I learned from those lessons to come to a deeper understanding. I can often proactively prevent something like that from occurring in the future.
One of the things the dark swirl also does is help me more fully appreciate the light swirl. One of the most important things to understand about the two sides is that they are complementary to each other while being opposing. On the surface that would appear not to make sense but in the Chinese culture it does. This is especially true in Chinese medicine and how natural cures or techniques are utilized in the prevention or healing of someone. It has been influential in Chinese philosophy for thousands of years and should not be discounted as a higher level of viewing things. I invite you to do a Google search on this topic and find out for yourself how the yin-yang can be incorporated into your recovered life. Since both are universally necessary for the sustaining of life, wouldn’t you rather have the complimentary power of light and dark? When combined, they can be a powerful complement to your life.
Robert Pardon
Robert is the Recovery Guy. Getting clean and sober on April 25, 1986 has given me the insight and practical skill set to not only stay sober, but to also re-invent myself to the person I always wanted to become. Showing others how to do this is my life goal.
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