Something that’s come up in my life with common recurrence is the idea of contradiction. We humans are walking forms of contradiction. It’s all too common that our feelings and thoughts oppose each other, or we even experience contradicting feelings at the same time. Strange how we can be one thing and its exact opposite at the same time! For instance, we can find ourselves instigating despite hating the idea of fighting and chaos. We can be particularly sad or suffering but still find ourselves laughing and smiling. We can both love and hate getting attention at the same time. Odd as this is, I’m sure you’ve experienced a time when you felt happy and sad at once.

When I went through a wild period of grief after losing my best friend unexpectedly, my entire trip back home consisted of being incredibly distraught while also having a good time remembering the wonderful things about her. Quite odd, but contradiction is just part of our nature. Though our minds tend to like well-defined thoughts, we are actually pretty chaotically contradictory by nature. 

We humans are walking forms of contradiction. It’s all too common that our feelings and thoughts oppose each other, or we even experience contradicting feelings at the same time.

Perhaps one of the most frustrating examples of this is when your heart and your mind are at odds with one another. Logically you may think that you should take a new job because it checks every box on your list of desires, but your heart just doesn’t feel drawn to it and wants you to pass. Or maybe you feel ready to dive into a new relationship but your mind is telling you it’s a terrible idea. What do you do? Well, it depends on the type of person you are. There are those of us who live our lives driven by our feelings who will feel compelled to bypass logic for passion, or even hope. And there are those of us who live logically and push aside feelings to pursue the logical outcome instead.

Whatever the type of person you are in this situation, meditation can help clear your thoughts and guide you to the appropriate outcome for you. Or, even better, I recommend meditating on it for a week or two to ensure you’re making the correct choice for your situation. As mentioned, I’ve experienced this a lot recently through the grief of personal loss, and I found the following exercise helped me quite a bit.

First, find a quiet or favorite place to meditate. After completing your preferred preparatory process, go to the focus level you visit for reflection and problem-solving. I prefer Focus 12 and Focus 15. I find that Focus 12 provides perspective from the inside of a problem while Focus 15 provides more of a distance to examine the details of a problem from a more detached headspace.

Whatever the type of person you are in this situation, meditation can help clear your thoughts and guide you to the appropriate outcome for you.

Whatever the case, look at the contradiction or problem from any focus levels you’d like, and ask yourself to list out what your heart is telling you. Then, ask yourself what your logical mind is telling you. From there, notice how different the two perspectives are before trying to find any similarities in the contradictions. This could be where your answer lies. Analyze the situation from all sides—from a closer and then farther perspective—to find the desired solution for yourself. No one can tell you how to respond; just follow through with what your intuition indicates. Accessing your intuition in these higher states of consciousness can serve as a crucial tool during an otherwise confusing time.

It's important to note that it may take many days and many meditations to come to an answer if you’re stuck in a predicament. Having to sift through contradictions can make for a complex and confusing experience, so it’s important to take your time.

Remember that contradictions are normal in life. We are complex creatures who, as much as we love things to be in black in white, live in shades of grey. Embrace the grey, live your life, and don’t forget to access your intuition in times of need.