Being out here in the woods allows me to reflect on a great number of things. The principle of shared interests vs. The principle of Yin-Yang is one that comes to the forefront. The Lady Talis is a person of the woods, and out here the slow life and the idea of what matters and place for everything (more on that in a later post) really blossoms for her. She finds her purpose here whereas the desert brings all the emptiness that such a place is commonly imagined to manifest. There are no roots in the desert–not for either of us. Everything there came from elsewhere, and likely would come away with us when we left. Yet the deeper question is what is there here for me in the woods?
The principle of shared interests suggests that couples flourish by having things in common and working on those things and growing together. I feel like we do have some shared interests, but this is not our strength, as my primary interests are aligned elsewhere. I want to be able to focus on becoming extremely intelligent in the X’s and O’s of football–in a chessmaster fashion. That is my hobby, oft manifest through building offensive systems in games like madden and college football as well as watching those games take place. I lead with my hobby because my work–my purpose–doesn’t fulfill me as much as my hobby. That work is writing. Unfortunately, I have not been able to diagnose why that is… So, it leaves me thinking about the Yin Yang.
Ying Yang suggests we work cooperatively, filling each others needs and finding shared interests as well. In this fashion we have our own stuff but we also have stuff together. The combination of both makes us whole. I’m trying to figure out what works best and where it works best… It will mean everything to figure that out.