Contradictions

I read an interview in a magazine. "I don't meditate. It just doesn't work for me," quickly followed by "I don't understand when someone says, 'I don't do yoga, I'm not flexible.'" The interviewee accepts his own unwillingness to meditate yet judges another's resistance to yoga. A contradiction. 

I smiled when I read this. We all hold contradictions inside us. I judge myself far more harshly than I judge others. I practice the Buddhist precepts yet I drink wine, regularly. I don't want fame yet I daydream of having a book published. I'm a pacifist yet I'm often at war with myself, or at war with the present moment. 

We're human. We're complicated paradoxes. We needn't be shocked by these contradictions. They're in everybody in every form we can imagine. But neither should we ignore the contradictions. They hold wisdom. They show us where we're stuck; where we're blind or resistant or ignorant. Paradox is a rich place for growth. But bring these tools: curiosity, gentleness, tolerance, honesty, and kindness. See what shifts; see what grows.