As I sit quietly, observing the beauty that surrounds me on this glorious morning, I am struck by how all exists in paradox. Within my heart I feel fear, encased with sadness around the edges. The cold, dank walls create dark chambers that pulsate with trepidation and concern. Knowing it is important to feel all emotions as they each have guidance to share, I allow myself to accept the fear and sadness, as uncomfortable as they are, and allow them to be seen and felt. As I focus on those walls I notice there are beads of light dripping down them and splashing, noiselessly into larger, deeper pools. Adjusting my focus I can feel that the light connects to love, trust and peacefulness and into a calm serenity that exists beyond the fear. While focusing on this light within my heart it swells to become all there is, the wave of calm and acceptance takes over the whole of me and all I can see is the beauty of this interconnected, expansive world, all existing together and all as it is meant to be.

This paradox must have always been so. Everything existing as a mix of light and dark and within the darkness, there will always be light. Expressed perfectly in the ancient symbol of the yin and yang which I frequently doodled when I was at school; the covers of most of my books, as well as the page margins, were covered in these symbols which meant nothing to me then, unless the complexity of life existed within my subconscious mind, giving me the desire to perfect drawing them, trying to balance equally the light and dark sides.

Panning out from myself I see the same paradox played out at a larger scale. So much love and kindness in the world, yet such terror and destruction elsewhere. Having spent a lot of time in hospitals recently, I notice there is so much compassion, kindness and love from the staff, and yet the fear, frustration and sadness within the patients. Could this be part of the draw for some to visit the hospital; to balance out their inner darkness? Then on another scale there is such great work being done to improve and heal land across the globe, yet still destruction of the rain forest continues because people want to use cheap palm oil and massive mines destroy parts of the world for their precious minerals, because battery operated tools are much more convenient. The oceans have more cleaning and improvement than ever before yet there is still bottom trawling fishing because people want to eat cheap fish. Women’s rights and a global social movement have meant better lives for many, and yet for others the unbearable suffering continues because we want too many, cheap clothes. None of these are as simple as I have expressed and are vastly complicated, inextricably linked processes but all exist within the same paradox of light and dark, yin and yang to which we are all complicit.

Back to the individual level, we cannot control the larger picture, but we can continue to work on ourselves to focus on the light and the love. Energy flows where our attention goes. So let us focus on what we want to create. To expand those pools of light so that we can help others to focus into their own pools. Collectively, as this ripples out, we can make a difference to the bigger picture. The yin and the yang are both present in all situations; it is up to us to decide which one we choose to focus on and thus, give our energy to. Perhaps then, we can ask ourselves to question the impact our choices are making, but from the perspective of compassion and love, rather than from a place of fear and criticism.