Let’s explore the power of opposites. Chaos and calm, noise and peace, anger and joy, hungry and full, sad and happy, …peace and opportunity. Sure, we all strive for happiness, joy, peace, wealth, and grace in our lives. We all want more of that, right? How do you know, though, that you want more joy if you’ve never experienced anger? Can you really know what it means to feel happy if you’ve never experienced sadness? If you never knew what it was like to feel hungry, how can you appreciate what it means to feel well-fed? What’s up with these opposites?

Think for a moment about a ball. When a ball is resting, there’s nothing very exciting about it. It’s just there. Give the ball a kick or a toss, and what happens? It’s still a ball, but isn’t it more entertaining now that it’s in motion? There’s an adventure happening now. Will the ball get to its desired destination, veer way off course, or will it lead to a brand new interaction? The act of conflict between the resting ball and a ball in motion makes the whole idea of a ball more engaging.

Now let’s look at that concept in relation to our emotions. Think for a moment about a time you experienced gut wrenching grief. Let’s shift that and now think for a moment about your most elated happiness. The human experience, along with your personal experiences, allows you to know both grief and happiness (and everything in between). One is not better than the other. The experience of both is what makes your life interesting and adventurous.

The energy between opposites is where the juicy, powerful life takes place. What if we choose to look at chaos as an opportunity in the scope of what it means to be calm? The same idea applies to noise and peace, anger and joy, or feeling full or hungry. You get the idea. We have to have both to understand and experience each one. Emotions are not good or bad. They are both. One extreme, without the other, is just a thing sitting there waiting to be discovered. The juicy goodness is the adventure of how we experience each one and everything in between. The power of opposites…

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