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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

CONTEMPLATION VS ANALYSIS

     I think there's a difference between contemplation and analysis. Contemplation feels gentler to me somehow. It is more wandering than questing, more willing to be unsure. It asks open-ended questions and is up for discussion. Contemplation is willing to consider alternative points of view.
     Analysis, on the other hand, seeks certainty. It wants to categorize and pigeon-hole. It wants to tie things up with a string and put them away: done, solved, next. Its approach is cut and dry, hard-edged. It seeks to solve, not to wonder. It wants to arrive and not meander.
     I bring both energies to my life, but I prefer the contemplative. I get in trouble when I try too hard to figure things out. I suffer needlessly asking why this and why that, and needing to understand. I can ask why not instead, and contemplation lets me. I can think hummm... and perhaps... and let's see, and what about this over here? Contemplation allows for all possibility. I don't have to solve anything or come to any conclusions. I can wander playfully in and around the ramblings of my spirit and my mind.

I invite the energy of contemplation into my day, and I open to the journey of reflective thoughts. I honor the living curiosity within me that wants to explore.