Where there is beauty, there is ugliness. When something is right, Something else is wrong. Knowledge and ignorance Depend on each other. It has been like this since the beginning. How could it be otherwise now? Wanting to chuck out one And hold onto the other Makes for a ridiculous comedy. You must still deal with everything Ever-changing, Even when you say it’s wonderful. - Ryokan (1758–1831) -courtesy of dailyzen.com

All or none thinking is one of the more frequent cognitive errors we make when dealing with stressful situations. Either I am successful or I am a failure. The severest form of this is the assumption that the self or others are all good or all bad. A life from this perspective is filled with conflict and doubt. Experiences carry a potential for elation or despair. The idea of possibilities is intolerable because there is a required acknowledgement of possible failure and shame. The idea of knowledge and ignorance depending on others can be a hard one to swallow. However one cannot recognize knowledge if one does not know ignorance; just as one cannot recognize happiness without knowing sadness. Therapy is the opportunity to sit in a compassionate and non judgmental environment to consider all the positive and negative aspects of ourselves. That space then becomes a refuge for exploring and investigating. Wisdom is a natural product of this work and a very effective way of dealing with everything that is ever changing.