YIN YANG: CHOOSING PEACE

     Einstein said that time is relative, but perhaps experience is relative as well. Individual perspective depends on such things as history, temperament, context, and sense of self such that five people can all go though the exact same thing and yet have five distinct experiences. For one it may be dark and scary; for another, comedic. It may be perceived as hopeful by one, awe inspiring by another, and sleep inducing by a third. The question might be that once we have lodged on a certain perspecive on our life, can we change it? And if we could, would we ever want to?
     I believe the answer is yes, and yes again. I'm grateful for the opportunity to see things differently so that I may be relieved of pain, or resentment, or fear. I don't believe it's true that something "bad" is always necessarily bad, that it is bad across the board in any and all situations. There's always the possibility for a twist. There's always the possibility that what seems a horror at the time ends up being a blessing with some hindsight and a bit of emotional progress. Just so, there is no thing that is always and forever "good," that is free from blemish or imperfection or without its own twisting potential. It's all mixed up in life, and happily so, good in the bad, and bad in the good. Somehow, it all seems to sort itself out in the end... up, and up, towards the ultimate good, or higher good. At least, that's what I believe. That's the perspective of a glass-half-full optimist. And the pessimist believes the opposite; that no matter how things appear, in the end it's all going downhill and into the tanker.
     The beauty is that we do have choice. That is our gift and our option. We can be willing to see things differently. We can choose forgiveness and understanding and inner peace, or we can choose to push our perspectives down the throats of others and fight with righteous indignation when they resist us. That's a road of conflict and discomfort, but it's open to each of us, every day, and sometimes, with enough effort, we can actually shove our way through. But for my part, just for this day, I choose the path of peace.

I am willing to see all sides of a situation today, and choose the loving perspective so that I might feel peaceful on the inside, and free from angst.