Of course it does… everything is on a continuum and has an opposite.
You can’t have a left without a right, an up without a down, success without failure, a good experience without a bad one and so on; it is a world of duality.
There are two poles or opposites; the difference between the two extremes is called polarity.
Within every failure there is potential for success. Within every problem there is a potential for opportunities. Everything in life has an equal opposite. It is up to you as to what side you choose to focus on and experience.
There is no such thing as good or bad, big or small – it is what it is. However, when you perceive it to be a certain way or the meaning you choose to give what ever is going on in your life, you are simply giving it a label.
Labels Can Be Dangerous
What you may label as a bad experience, I may label it as an opportunity and look at what have I learned from this experience so to do it differently next time. If you did not experience sadness, you would not know what joy is, and without pain you would not have pleasure. These polar opposites all work together for the greater good. You only need to understand this and appreciate this fact that they exist.
Polar opposites may be:
- good and bad
- rich and poor
- night and day
- healthy and sick
- sad and happy
- pain and pleasure
- failure and success
- big and little
- black and white
- love and hate
- yin and yang
- male and female
Without one of these, the other doesn’t exist. Since all things are relative, without failure you would never experience success. You can relate this to all areas of your life. Stop judging these aspects in your life and start recognising them for what they are. Failure and success is the same thing on opposite poles. Within one is the potential for the other.
Be mindful that labels can be dangerous. They can shape more than your perception; they also change how you perceive people.
Potential for Success
How do you use this information to your advantage?
As mentioned – within one is potential for the other. In every failure, there lies within it the potential for success. Once you acknowledge and recognise that one can’t exist without the other and that they are the same thing that lie just on the other side of the spectrum – you need only turn your thoughts to the side of the spectrum you wish to experience.
With every dichotomy or opposite, it is really up to you as to where you focus. Just like a pendulum that has two dimensions. Imagine a feeling, any feeling or emotion. How long does it last?
It is with feelings as with the pendulum – they swing! Relentless! You may like one side more than the other. One day you may want to be:
- alone
- with people
- in a relationship
- single
- working with an organisation
- working for yourself.
Resistance & Acceptance
Acceptance is the opposite of resistance and will bring more of what you desire. If you can accept failure for what it is and move forward by taking the learnings, you will have the ability to accept success. If you resist failure then you are putting your main focus on that failure, which in turn attracts more of it; you will never experience success.
The important part to get out of this information is that all things have their own polar opposites and without one you would never experience the other, just as you learn that all things are relative. There is no good or bad; it is all in how you perceive it. Do not resist that which you do not desire. Accept it and move your thoughts to what you do desire.
Do Opposites Attract?
Do opposite dichotomies attract one another? For example, does an extrovert attract an introvert? Does a thinker attract a feeling individual? Or… does a structured individual attract an open, global-minded person?
Perhaps they do. From my experience dichotomy opposites do not necessarily translate into harmony. However, the amount of evidence that I have seen with my own eyes shows that the opposites combined appear to be a good match. Extroverts are energised more when talking about what they are thinking and feeling, and introverts are energised more when thinking about what they are thinking and feeling.
Nevertheless, natural differences exist in how extroverts and introverts perceive, process and respond. For instance, extroverts require external affirmations to feel internally grounded and feel accepted; they are very driven by external influence, whereas introverts are completely the opposite.
The opportunity here is for you to have an open mind and ask yourself every day: What can I learn from this very experience? How can I chunk it up and find the balance between the two? Harmony, understanding and balance will all be welcomed into your life with open arms.
