Embracing Life's Contrasts: The Art of Balanced Living
Have you noticed that life is full of contrasts? That everything we perceive has its polarities: black and white, up and down, rich and poor, tall and short? The list is infinite. Between the two polarities, there is a wide range of flavors, experiences, and overall life richness. We have a tendency to desire and pursue the extreme polarity of pleasure and comfort in our life experiences. I don't want to demonize pleasure and comfort; I think these two elements of life have their place and role. Living a life without pleasures and comforts wouldn't be a rich life. But the point I want to make is that being overly attached to the pursuit of pleasure and comfort often leads to an unsatisfactory life experience. A limited life experience. We can only gain wisdom and inner knowledge through the exploration of contrasts. You can only appreciate comfort and pleasure to the extent that you have experienced pain and discomfort. Through contrasts, we broaden and expand our horizons and perception, enabling us to taste more of life's flavors.
I would like to share some tangible experiences that I've had in my life, which have led me to the realization that navigating the waters of contrast can translate to a more meaningful and enriched life. My twenties were a decade of deep exploration, both internally and externally, a decade full of contrasts. Internally, I had numerous inner changes triggered by my experiences, books, ideas, and mentors. I had the privilege of being exposed to many opposing ideas, ways of living, values, priorities, philosophies, and beliefs. All these contrasts allowed me to gain a better understanding and a wider perspective, which helped me start shaping my preferred worldview. This is a lifelong process, but those ten years of constant exposure to contrast prepared me to live my thirties in alignment with my authentic self.
On the external side, I had the privilege of exploring every continent and visiting over 50 countries. Some of the traveling was for work, some for fun, and some with the purpose of seeking wisdom from different cultures and people. These experiences were full of contrasts that kept shaping my worldview. From spending two months in India, sleeping in the most basic places you can imagine, doing 20+ hour train journeys in packed trains, constantly getting sick due to the lack of hygiene, and seeing levels of poverty I had never imagined possible. Right after those two months in India, I got a work opportunity to go back to one of the richest country clubs in Hong Kong to help a professional tennis player prepare for the Australian Open. After one week of training in Hong Kong, we went to the Australian Open, which you can probably imagine involved a level of exclusivity, luxury, and comfort. From eating in the streets of India to sharing the same restaurant with legends like Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, life has allowed me to experience many contrasting situations. I will keep sharing some of them in future posts.
The main realization after such a contrasting experience(India/Australia) is that there isn't one better than the other. They feed each other; they give each other purpose and meaning. They complement each other. None of them is as meaningful without the other. I don't want to live a life of comfort without being able to grasp what discomfort is. I don't want to live in material abundance without knowing what living in material scarcity is. Living in material scarcity, or living simply without a choice, is easy. Living simply while having the choice to live in material abundance and comfort is not. But again, I am 100% convinced that this approach to life and contrasts is crucial to our lives.
I don't think creating attachments to one polarity is healthy. Once we overly attach to one polarity and get too comfortable, it is probably time to start traveling to the other side of the polarity. That, for me, is the art of a balanced life. It's the art of swimming smoothly between the yin and the yang.
Cheers to a life full of contrasts.