The Dance Between Opposites

"Life is a dance, and each step is a chance to embrace the rhythm of your existence." ~Unknown

Ice and Fire
Will I choose to dance between the intense heat and bitter cold while bringing awareness to these necessities vital to our existence?

Positivity and Negativity
Am I willing to pull life's negativity onto the dance floor with empathy and the empowerment to be compassionate without allowing it to take the lead?

Light and Dark
When the music starts, darkness seeks the light for guidance in its moves, and the precious light reaches for the dark to enhance its unique dance of shadows and accents of color and illuminate the beauty that only they can represent together as one. The watchers of this dance are mesmerized by how such a contrast between them can heal both the light and darkness of their souls.

Have you ever wondered what you would think about, feel like, or dream of without the many opposites of life, let alone how the world would function?

There is a uniquely beautiful and, at times, dangerous dance between the two sides of everything on this magnificent planet. There is an essential reason for this, and it was conceived with a purpose so we could experience diversity, involvement, and the opportunity for all of us to share our perspectives and choices.

As I ponder this, looking out the back window, I see two tiny birds at the feeder. After eating a few seeds, they gently fly upward, facing each other in unison like a graceful dance. Then, they move to the tree branch above, swoop back to eat, and interact again. The dance between them is only known to them and seems to bring joy to both.

My eyes move to a windmill with two circular decorative wheels on one stand between the birdhouses. As I watched, the wheels slowly moved in the same direction, rocking back and forth, and then suddenly, the wind shifted, and the wheels moved in opposite directions until they spun so fast that I could not recognize the individual designs on each wheel. And then they slowed down, but only for a moment, and then again, quickly spun as if they were going to fly off the pole that quivered with their spinning. The thin branches on the trees move in unison, and the leaves on the ground are softly lifted and flying around in the air as they sway in rhythm; it was like the wind had brought forth its energy to dance and play with Nature.

This made me think of what kind of dancing we do in life, with whom, and with what, metaphorically speaking.

Every time someone steps on our path, a dance begins. It may last only minutes, a few days, or a lifetime. When the dance abruptly ceases, it is because there are no more steps in that invisible pathway to move them in unison, to feed them in the way of growth and expansion.

When a new person steps on our path in whatever way, for however long, they bring their dance to mingle with ours, which we never performed before because no two relationships are alike. You may have done some of the same moves before, but because we are all uniquely different, so is the dance. As in group dancing, couples are in a circle on a dance floor, and partners frequently switch to dance with the next person when the music begins again, and the energy between them is solely theirs.

As I visualize this, it has breathed new life into my beliefs about those I interact with daily and what kind of unseen dance we have created together. And what about those I have yet to meet? I'm curious about what kind of dance we will experience in unison and how I will change because of it.

I also see why some people who appear in my life exit in the blink of an eye or why I do. The rhythm between us and our music notes doesn't coincide, like opera and hip-hop. Others may stay long enough for teaching and learning purposes to advance in life with newfound knowledge.

I wonder about the ones who have been with me from the beginning, as in my parents, relatives, and siblings, and then as I got older, the marriages I've experienced, the children I've birthed and raised or not raised, and the grandchildren. They, too, have met me on my dance floor, and we have flowed together and apart. Some gracefully, others challenging. Like the wind moving through the windmills, slowing down to experience the moves of the intricate dance we've weaved together and, when the time is right, releasing them as we and they move on in life.

I affectionately smile here and am fascinated with this new way of looking at the universal dance we all do with opposites and relationships and how we unconsciously intertwine our moves together and apart throughout our lives. There are so many uncharted concepts about us and this world, and it never ceases to amaze me when I come up with a new thought of this kind. It is worldly, and my imagination sees it as if I found a bright star hanging out in the universe. I pluck it from the sky and put it into my heart to guide me in seeing and living my life differently.

So, Shall we dance?💞

The snow begins to melt on the shore as the sun’s heat rises in the early morning, and the water reflects the sky’s clouds. The dance between Ice and Fire begins in the dawn of a new day.

Thoughts to Ponder:
Where have you experienced the dance of opposites in your life? And, has the dancing in your past and present relationships changed you to move in this world differently?🦋

©2025 Terry Pottinger