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© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Everyone has heard of yin and yang.  Some people even say they have had frustration “up the yinyang”.  This last is a nonsense phrase.  However, yin and yang are very powerful and useful concepts.  Balancing the two forces yields harmony, happiness, and success.Bagua, yin and yang

Bagua by NVTOfficeClips

 

In ancient oriental philosophy, yin and yang are the opposing forces of the Universe.  Yin is the expanding forces of the Universe and yang is the contracting forces of the Universe. Some master teachers have taught that yin is the femaleness of the Universe and yang is the maleness of the Universe.  However, this limits the concepts.

Picture a tree that flowers and fruits.  As the branches and twigs grow and extend themselves, they are expressing yin, or expansion.  As the roots go down, they are expressing yang, or contraction.  Sweetness is a flavor with the quality of yin.  The flowers and fruits on the branches of our tree are sweet. If you eat a lot of sweet food, such as candy, your brain will not work well and may start to feel like it has expanded to possibly outside your head.  This may be a sugar high.  Certainly is a yin effect   To counter the yin effect in your diet, slowly subtract sweet foods and add more yang foods, such as ginger root, which is very yang.  Don’t add too much yang to your yin diet at once, or your solid output may contract to something very dense like rabbit pellets—the yang effect.

Everything has relative degrees of yin and yang.  Femaleness is generally yin, and maleness yang.  Introversion is a yin quality and extroversion is yang.  The Moon and night are both yin, while the Sun and daylight are yang.  Cold is yin, heat is yang.  Quiet is yin, loudness is yang.  The key to using these concepts is balance.  To feel our best, we need yin– yang balanced environments.  A workplace is most harmonious with about half yin people (mainly women) and about half yang people (mainly men).  In a workplace of all men but one woman, the extra yang energy will drain toward the woman, and she will be tense and possibly become aggressive.

In love, a yin person may be happiest with another yin person, feeling understood, and feeling a natural commonality.  Some say, “like attracts like.”  Both will be cold in the same temperature room.  Both will get weary of a party quickly, due to the excess yang energy.  Both will tend to recharge by going to a quiet area alone and not talking.  In friendship, same-energy pairs make some of the longest, closest bonds.  Conversely, a yang person may be most compatible with a yang person, as they will both tend to be warm-natured and want animated conversations and lively parties.  They may enjoy going to massive sports events and shouting together.  An argument between these two may be very heated (yang), then burn out.

However, another truism says “opposites attract”, and many couples have one yin partner and one yang partner.  Differences can fascinate and each can modify the other’s yin– or yang- excesses.  How yin or yang are you?

Think about your own nature in terms of these ancient opposite forces.  Consider what friendships and relationships have worked for you, and where the conflicts or missing elements were.  Now, as you step forward (yang behavior) or receive expressions of interest (yin behavior), recognize what feels natural to you.  Seek, or receive, and filter by the basics of your nature.  You’ll find the most lasting bonds for a lifetime.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (on Amazon.com >Books>Buckley), and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (on Amazon.com >Books>Button).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

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