Learning to live with the paradox
Making peace with paradox. It’s tough, but essential for better living and better perspective.
She received infusion treatments on her birthday. This was decidedly NOT the way she wanted to spend her birthday. But, her parents brought cake anyway. And the nurse joined in the celebration. Sadness and happiness had collided.
This same experience happens in groups as well. While one person enjoys remission and fewer meds, another person just received the bad news. As one caregiver finally gets to take a vacation, another struggles to pull herself out of the monotony of a deteriorating situation.
So what do you do?
1. Be sensitive to the people around you, but enjoy your good times.
2. Broaden your view. Remember that joy and pain are often parallel, connected…two parts of a greater whole.
When times are tough, it is difficult to focus on gratitude. Try anyway.
Making peace with paradox. Easier said than done. But, as you make the attempt, you may just hear the dissonant harmony of happy and sad.
Worth Repeating
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
-Carl Rogers
