Why embracing the beauty of paradox can be a game-changer

We force things into black-and-white categories, but the trick is to hold opposing truths at the same time.

Today’s podcast guest shared an amazing story with me.

He was a speaker at the International Peace Conference alongside luminaries including the Dalai Lama and Nobel Prize winner Paul Nurse.

He asked, ‘who here experiences inner peace?’

Everyone proudly put up their hand.

‘Who experiences inner turmoil?’

There was less enthusiasm among the attendees to thrust their hands in the air, before the speaker added, ‘because I experience both peace and turmoil.’

Thereafter everyone relaxed and acknowledged that they too got angry and frustrated.

Then he asked who experiences conflict with their partners. And with their children. And with their colleagues.

When everyone recognised that every social dynamic is full of BOTH calm and turmoil, he asked: at what point does world peace come about?

Oh.

We have to embrace paradoxes at the same time.

There is no up without down. Good without evil. Pleasure without pain. Give without take.

And yet we try and live a ‘one-sided’ life in which we disown parts of ourselves.

And the best clue as to what you are denying in yourself is what you judge in others.

We stop trying to live up to a fantasy about how we should be, and embrace how we actually are.

As the Buddha said, 'the desire to seek that which is unobtainable (purely ‘positive’), and the desire to avoid that which is unavoidable (‘negative’), is a source of human suffering.’

Embracing this insight can be incredibly freeing.

This post is just a glimpse into one of my favorite conversations. The full episode, dropping today, delves deeper into these ideas and offers powerful wisdom that will leave you feeling lighter and more at peace. Don’t miss it—tune in now to gain fresh perspectives and practical tools for embracing life’s paradoxes.

This post is a glimpse into one of my favourite podcast conversations. The full episode, dropping today, delves deeper into these ideas and offers powerful wisdom that will leave you feeling lighter and more peaceful.

Don’t miss it—listen now to reduce unnecessary psychological suffering by embracing life’s paradoxes.