Yesterday in spin class…yes, spin class…my friend and teacher D espoused more than the usual commands. But that is not unusual for D. He is our cycling philosopher. As we let buckets of sweat drip to the floor, he fills the air with his insightful antidotes. Yesterday was no different. Between the loud music and my loud, heavy breathing, I did not catch all his quips, but I did hear him say: “Sometimes the Beauty is the Beast!” I laughed and thought, how true.
In a society that so often wants everything and everyone put into their own defined categories, it is difficult for many of us to think outside the box, to think that one thing can also be another. It seems if you told me yesterday that your favorite color was pink, today it cannot be blue. If I tell you I love the spring, I cannot tell you I abhor the spring rain. Of course these are simple examples to something that is more complex.
When we isolate our way of thinking to believe that things have to be just so, then we are really isolating ourselves from acceptance. Acceptance is when we see something or someone for how they are in that moment and regardless of continuity, we appreciate them in both lights. None of us are so one dimensional that we do not show other sides of ourselves. Conversely, when we live a life in awareness of juxtapositions and contradictions we can better accept the variances. We can even appreciate them…understanding that the beauty can be the beast and the beast can be the beauty.