Have you ever felt the force that paradoxes exert in our lives?
Where both the opposite ends of a same thing seem true,
Where something “is”, but it “isn’t”??
I am not making sense, am I??
Well, let me try it by an example. The other day, a friend of mine dragged me to a vegetable market, as she had to buy a lot of veggies and wished for a helping hand.
Now I am basically a very lazy person and moving my body for anything more than the absolute necessary is absolutely a no, no for me. (Happiness comes from a lot of ways, and I’ve realized that for me happiness and bliss is to just sit in my house, with a nice romance and sometimes, just sometimes, a beautifully dark piece of chocolate cake!!)
So, coming back to my woe, my friend, who is a bolt of electricity and who just can’t seem to stay within the confines of the room, or rather the house; dragged me with her to buy vegetables. According to her, my nose needed the fresh air, my eyes needed to see all the greens and my core needed the sunlight. So I went along.
Upon reaching there, I got struck by all the amazing colours and fresh fragrances… The yellow of bell peppers, the green of broccoli, the red of chillies, the purple of brinjal, the white and beige of garlic and potatoes!
Well, I can safely say that all my sulking went away and I absolutely flew about gathering vegetables and fruits for the both of us and piling our bags with them.
My friend, obviously, was dumbstruck. The one who was pouting and sulking and glaring at her all the way, was now all happy and excited and flitting about like a butterfly around the veggies! Now she was the one pouting and glaring!!
On the way back, she could not contain her frustration or curiosity and asked me the reason for my two opposing behaviors. So I told her that I “love” to go grocery shopping, but I don’t “like” doing it!
Now she was confused! So I explained that I love to be surrounded by fresh aromas and food stuff, but I don’t like to move out of my house to do so.
It was while telling her that, that I realized that such situations exist in everyone’s life, isn’t it; where we love doing something while we do it, yet don’t like the thought of doing it.
Playing with kids,
Going swimming or to the gym,
Shopping,
Cooking,
Partying,
Reading…
These can’t be termed as actual paradoxes, yet in terms of thought process, they are actually opposites. As “loving” doing something will make it enjoyable; while merely “liking” to do something will convert it into a chore!
But there is another angle to doing the mundane and less lovable things in life. As Gail Tsukiyama says, “I also find, doing the mundane, everyday things in life has a calming, creative influence on me. Some of my best ideas come when I’m vaccuming or waiting in lines.”
What’s your angle on “loving” and “liking”???
Musings of a Feather Brain 