Flip a coin ten times:
The odds are it will come up heads five times and tails five times. You may flip heads several times in a row, but the more you flip, the closer to 50/50 the odds become. This is Yin and Yang in action - this is the balance of the universe.
In our world of form, nature ensures that every extreme has an equal and opposite extreme to counterbalance it. Extremes are perceived as good and bad, sunny or stormy, smart or dumb, beautiful or ugly - but they aren’t really what they appear to be. As human and physical beings, we carry with us every extreme, all at once. We’re all ugly and beautiful. We’re all successful and failures. It’s okay, and it normal to feel that way. You can’t change it, but you can learn from it. With this knowledge, you will bring happiness and compassion into everything you do, and you’ll enrich the lives of everyone you meet.
10 Things I’ve Learned About Natural Balance and How To Apply It To Your Own Life:
1. Today you might feel bad. Maybe something awful happened to you. Tomorrow is another day, and “This too shall pass.”
2. Today you feel great. You might have just had the best moment in your life. Tomorrow is another day, and even “This too shall pass.”
3. For every exceptional success, you’ll find a dismal failure.
4. For every honor roll student, there’s a flunkie. Within every person, there is a genius and an idiot. Don’t be afraid to be both of them - it’s human.
5. In every business or organization, no matter how big or successful, you’ll find incompetence - you’ll also find geniuses.
6. Never complain about an inept or disorganized coworker. If every employee and business were remarkable, you might be out of a job.
7. Don’t envy someone smarter than you - take them out for lunch! You learn from the masters. Aspire to be one yourself.
8. In every class of doctors, dentists, psychologists, and lawyers, there are a many who just barely graduate, but they still get the same diploma. The assumption is, “He has a diploma, so he must be good!” When was the last time we asked our doctor how he placed in his class? Is he really good or did he just scrape by? A piece of paper on the wall means nothing.
9. Creativity ebbs and flows. You can encourage creativity but it can’t be forced. The most successful people act on every creative impulse when it happens instead of waiting for the next “big wave” or “big idea.” Little ideas that people value are much more important than big ideas that never catch on.
10. How often have you failed? Fail often - every failure will bring from nature the potential for great success.
Are you exceptional, dismal, or average?
You have the power to decide to be successful and brilliant but it is not within your power to avoid failure. Take chances and let nature find balance in your life. Know that for every dismal failure you’ve had, another stunning achievement is just around the corner. Everything arises and then returns to it’s source in the formless.
Don’t worry about it. Just do something. If you feel like doing nothing today, then today, do nothing. Just think about it. Tomorrow is another day - this too shall pass.