I often notice that we have a very different attitude to the concepts of positive and negative in the west compared with the Chinese.
The theory of yin and yang put positive and negative on an equal footing, in the sense that there is always a balance between the two. If either becomes too strong in relation to the other the situation has become unbalanced.
In the West we seem to feel that it should be possible to be 100% positive and get rid of all negativity. I have seen in myself and many clients the hidden belief that if you do everything right at one point you will simply become positive. It’s as if the sun will shine from then on without any more clouds or rain.
Interestingly, as a society we seem to have become quite obsessed with negativity at the same time, as we can see in our fascination with negative news and violent computer games. This seems to be the balance to that expectation or hope that we can become perfect if we only try hard enough.
The more I have learned the more I have seen that the day when the sun shines for ever is never going to come, at least as long as we are alive! Every day can bring a new problem or challenge and new solutions.
I’ve observed lots of people to see how they approach the positivity and negativity of life. I discovered that the people who try to prevent all problems and avoid challenges manage better for a while, because they are more peaceful and seem to have life under control. But I saw that the people who embrace problems and relish challenges have a much more lively and interesting life and they gain far more in the end. They learn more, give more, enjoy more and live more.
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
