Yin and Yang

This week I was honored to deliver a eulogy for one of our dear residents, Ellie Wells, who passed away in December.  In preparation for writing Ellie’s eulogy, I spoke with her children so I could represent her life more fully.  When I speak with family members and ask them to tell me about their loved one’s life, there is often a tendency to focus on the positive parts of a loved one’s life and remember the many happy times they shared together.  When I spoke with Ellie’s children, I was impressed with their willingness to openly share the difficult times, as well as the joyful parts, of their mother’s life.  They recognized both of these experiences are what shaped Ellie’s character and her unique wholeness. 

Delivering Ellie’s eulogy has prompted me to reflect on the Yin and Yang of Chinese philosophy dating back to the I Ching of 700 BCE. Yin and Yang are opposite and complementary energies. They are fundamentally balanced with one another, and interdependent. One cannot exist without the other, and nothing can be purely one or the other; together they create a whole. 

As human beings, it is both the joys and the sorrows – Yin and Yang experiences – that give us the ability to grow, to learn, and to shape our unique wholeness of character.  What are the Yin and Yang experiences in your life that create wholeness?

Marianne DiBlasi, CPE Intern