Chinese Philosophy

Paige Sherwood April 29 at 6:19pm

I should have started a blog a long time ago. For example, when I went to work in a pub in a small town on the southern coast of England for three months in the summer of 2007. That would have made for a good read. Or when I spent my spring '09 semester in London, that would have been something to blog about. Maybe I should have been blogging while I spent a weekend on a houseboat in Amsterdam or when I went couch surfing in Barcelona or hiking through Italy last May. Could it be that the most exciting experiences of my life have already passed me by?

Au, contraire. I expect this summer to be the best yet as I'll be living and working in my favorite city in the world, London. After much persistence, I secured an internship at an advertising agency called Alphabet Advertising and I'll be doing copywriting work among other intern-y sorts of things. In other words, I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do this summer.

But my life isn't just a bed of roses, which brings me to today's postulate: Yin Yang - More than just a patch on my jeans in 4th grade. The concept of Yin Yang in Chinese philosophy explains that in the natural world, opposing forces have reciprocal relationships; there is a natural ebb and flow of life that is beyond our control. For all the wonderful experiences in my life there are elements that are far less than ideal (i.e. living at home, changing colleges, constantly missing the people I love most) to balance them out. I think most people live balanced lives like this, but it seems to me that I live in extremes. Isn't that what they say to do? Live life to the extreme? Guess I can put a check in that box!