yin & yang

Photo credit: Alexander Schimmeck

I took a random pause to write on my wrists, “Aqui” on the left and “Ahora” on the right, as I looked out the window at the five story building across the street. 

Ornate. Very European-city looking. I thought about how I really do love the city — this city. I’ve lived in many places, and in other cities like St. Louis, Seattle, Santiago, Alicante. But what Berlin has more than those other places is this cultural eclectic belonging. 

I do love it here and maybe I’ll always make it work here. I do want to get my German up to par. I know I  always say that. Anyway, it got me thinking about this ying/yang lifestyle I want to live. And how I do feel there’s a way to make it work  — for and with me. 

Then I was picturing the ying yang symbol and how it would be a cool tattoo on my hand, like on my left hand on the side near my thumb. Something small, but a wonderful reminder of the flow of life — like that little squiggle down the middle. And how life is both black and white. Dark and light. Fast and slow. Bad and good. It’s round, robust, rolling forward. It’s not perfect. It simply cannot be so. 

But even looking at the balance as something that we all could have — and to find this peace and harmony within both worlds. Those two dots on opposite sides of the flow line are almost floating, peacefully in their world of dark/light, evil/good, fast/slow, vastness/emptiness, toxicity/pureness, uncertainty/clarity, lost/found, ugly/beauty, chaos/organized, hot/cold, city/nature, bustle/bore, friendships/solitude.

I could go on and on but this is a symbol that actually seems to pop out of nowhere — from graffiti to other tattoos to signage, etc. and means so much. It really feels like the keyhole to life. Notice I didn’t say “key” and put more of an effort on the “hole” as not in a black hole, although maybe?

But more as a doorway, through way, avenue to where it is you want to be and where you are now. The thing I’m picturing with this ying yang is how the flow line can move and be more left or right depending on how life is in the moment. But it always has a way of snapping back into the middle to balance. 

Hm, that all feels good to write. I feel at peace right now. Thinking about this image. 

This flow line, the two dots are me in those two worlds — spaces  — knowing I can be present in one and know the other exists. And I can get back to the other in time. I just have to be patient with the flow. To trust my Higher Power and to take action with it feels right. To remain still when it feels right. To move on when I’m ready. 

And in the meantime, I’ll do my best to live my best yin yang life. To be the free-spirited, fun-loving bird that I am. Open to adventure, love and growth.