There are few things in life that are true necessities. A necessity is a state or fact that is unavoidable, thus an aspect of life that is unavoidable is pain and suffering. Pain is a necessity for life because without it, we would not have it’s opposite: pleasure. This brings me to another necessity of life: reaction. It is a fact of physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction and so it can be said that there are binaries of life that are unavoidable.

It is crucial that we accept and embrace every binary of life, for we wouldn’t experience the full spectrum of experience without them

Without pain, we wouldn’t have pleasure. Without sadness, we wouldn’t have happiness. Without darkness, we wouldn’t have the light. Without chaos, we wouldn’t have order. So, it is crucial that we accept and embrace every binary of life, for we wouldn’t experience the full spectrum of experience without them. We wouldn’t truly experience fulfilment if we hadn’t truly experienced pain. We wouldn’t truly know happiness, without knowing suffering. We wouldn’t truly know our capacity for good if we didn’t also know our capacity for evil.

We should also be aware of the usefulness of both sides. To embrace thepainful side of life, to accept that suffering is necessary is to know pleasure as well. To accept that sadness is inevitable is to also embrace happiness when it arrives but we mustn’t chase anything, as each comes and goes without our control. We must know that our world could collapse into chaos just as easily when we attempt to order our lives and so the answer is to walk that thin line between the two, embracing aspects of both but never straying too far towards one. The Daoist symbol of the Yin Yang encapsulates this perfectly. Thetraditionally feminine side, the black side, represents chaos, the unknown and darkness, whereas the masculine side, the white side, represents heaven, order and the light (6). These descriptions shouldn’t be interpreted such that men are orderly and women chaotic, just that each side can turn into the other at any moment, hence the black dot within the white and the white dot within theblack.

The line that flows between the two represents the optimal position to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. We don’t want to be encompassed by thedarkness and the unknown, otherwise our lives will be chaotic and we won’t know where to turn. We also do not want to be engulfed in the light because when everything is predictable and orderly, we become bored and complacent. Better to walk that thin line between the known and the unknown. We do this by keeping one foot safely planted within order, routine and predictability and the other stepping into the unknown, into chaos so we can grow, progress and explore.

Keep On Struggling

Gregor

Podcast Episode I Found Revealing - Tim Spector on The Diary of a CEO

I watched this whole podcast by Steven Bartlett the other day and found it fascinating. There was some revelations that I was aware of such as theineffectiveness of calorie-counting and others that I will look into further such as the ineffectiveness of multi-vitamins and the benefits of eating 30 different plants per week to improve gut health. I also explored the Zoe Programme which Spector (pictured) co-created, which is a “personalized nutrition program from the world's largest nutrition-science study (2).” Although I do believe the pricing is reasonable, it does exclude some who may not be able to afford it, so perhaps this sort of service could operate as a charitably alongside the paid-memberships as the NHS does not currently have the resources or financial means to include these analyses, as much as it would benefit more people than the status quo.

Watch the podcast episode below.

WATCH HERE

Documentary I Found Meaningful - Stutz

“Oscar-nominated actor Jonah Hill turns the spotlight onto psychiatrist Phil Stutz and his profound approach to self-care and mental health (4)”. I found this documentary extremely honest and meaningful as it acknowledged thedifficulties felt by creative individuals who struggle with being transparent and authentic, especially actors. Stutz’s untraditional approach to psychiatry was also refreshing and his ‘tools’ for dealing with trauma and pain seem to be rooted in Jungian analytical psychology but with a more applicable approach, which I found useful.

Watch Stutz on Netflix or watch the trailer below.

WATCH HERE

Documentary Series I Re-Watched - The Last Dance

The Last Dance charts the rise of the 1990's Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, one of the most notable dynasties in sports history. I found this incredibly motivating, heartwarming, uplifting and emotional. To see a world-class team struggle through management crises, the pressures of competition, fame, fortune and the physical toll of the game was inspiring and it times, brought a tear to my eye.

Watch The Last Dance on Netflix or watch the trailer below.

WATCH HERE

Quote to Ponder

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack - George S. Patton

References

1) Tim Spector Image - Tim Spector Twitter

2) Zoe Quote - Zoe Website

3) Stutz Image - IMDB

4) Stutz Quote - Netflix

5) The Last Dance Image - Emmys.com

6) https://www.logodesignlove.com/yin-yang-symbol

7) Image Credit - Raw Pixel