I once read that it takes just as much gratitude to accept a gift as it does to give it. And we all have two parts that can give – as well as receive – but often we are closed in a dynamic that only lets one side give to the other. Let me give you an example.
Yang is our masculine side: will-power, go and get it, fight for it and keep it. A healthy ego has strong desires… and strong boundaries.
Yin is our feminine, receptive side: accept things as they come, practice gratitude, trust life. It’s superpower? It knows how to accept gifts.
Unfortunately, in most of us, Yang is strong and doesn’t accept Yin’s partnership. It sees Yin as vulnerable, soft, and weak. Yang prefers hard problems, no handouts, no help… it likes to work hard, sweat and brag. And it certainly doesn’t like to receive help. In fact, it shuts it out. All the better to keep its victimhood, its “me against the world” story alive. It lets in just a drop of help, a little moment of love… before it raises the drawbridge again. Better not to become dependant on outside help, it thinks.
Basically, Yang breaks all of our backs… until we learn to raise our glass in happy receptivity… and find out that the world is ready to rain our glasses full — and then some — all without the least effort.
Thank you, Yin, for never letting Yang win!
Joy Biscuits 