Oh, what a powerful and wonderful word – AND.
Thank goodness so many things are not either/or…
What if there were only darkness, war, death, illness, injury, hate, ugliness, poverty, scarcity, hunger, brokenness, anger, discouragement…
Today I am grateful for the & that complements with light, peace, life, health, recovery, love, beauty, riches, abundance, nourishment, wholeness, joy, hope…
It’s been said that to fully appreciate all the glorious and amazing things in life, we must have something to contrast them against…without darkness there can be no light. A wise friend of mine believes that all of the things we might categorize as ‘negative’ – those things that we don’t understand or don’t like, or that we want to be different or go away – are needed to help us understand and appreciate what we have. Intuitively, this feels true. Even so, I very often find myself pushing away the adverse. That, too, comes with & because the toughness of pushing against adversity is so often met with softness and moments of blissful appreciation for all of life’s beauty and wonder.
This Abundantly Delicious Life 
Pingback: Working through anger | Mostly My Heart Sings
I never thought of AND like this AND yet how could I not? I love the way you think!
Isn’t it abundantly delicious! A definite present we can create by being present!
Ampersand (how do you spell it?) why such a long word for such a simple symbol? 🙂 And… oh boy. I need some AND’s today! And I’ve gotten some too – let’s hope I recognized them all…
We give each other then &s don’t we…love our partnership in work and life, my dear friend Maureen!
You are so right! ♥
Instead of the word ‘but,’ replace with ‘and,’ and uncover true intention.
I don’t know that I agree with the negative to positive argument; that you must feel pain to appreciate joy, for example. I think that we can appreciate the joy without the pain, but as humans, do we need the pain to humble us into appreciation of the joy? Interesting conversation.
Good point, Lorian…something seems true, too, about the existence of joy simply for joy’s sake.