Owl sees both light, dark,
wisdom found in their embrace—
the flight of the whole.
Snake coils, Bear slumbers,
seasons walk a well-trod road—
Life’s cold balanced bones.
If I were given the power to rewrite and relive each moment of my life over the last year, to trade struggle for joy and happiness for sorrow; if I were to turn the mirror toward its other face, swap light for shadow, and shadow for light, and relive my year in an inverted way— I would say “no” and leave it all untouched.
If I did have and then used such a power, it would reveal something deeply unsettling: I have not yet learned to trust the dance of duality, where joy and pain move not as adversaries but as partners in creating a whole. To resist this balance is to deny the fullness of life, where each moment—whether light or shadow—has its place in shaping who we are. Trusting in duality doesn’t mean surrendering to pain, but recognizing that pain, in its way, enriches joy. It teaches us to appreciate the light more deeply by contrasting it with the dark.
How often do we lean too heavily on the weight of sorrow, measuring it against joy, as if the scales could tip too far? Life is not a ledger where joys are credits and challenges are debts. Perhaps it’s not the balance that is flawed, but our focus—fixed on the storm, while the rainbow fades unnoticed.
And it is within my very personal and lived experience of these contrasts—what I would trade, what I would not—that this balance is made clear.
Would I trade a sleepless night of worry for one of dreamless ease, if that worry taught me how deeply I cared?
Would I erase the harsh words spoken, if they carved the path to an apology that mended a torn relationship?
Would I have the pain vanish from my illness, if that discomfort was necessary for my healing body?
No, if I had the power, I would not invert and repeat this year. Because of the struggles I have found strength, and because of the joyful times I have found gratitude. But because of the stillness between the challenges and the happiness, I have found the quiet rhythm of a life that is neither perfect nor broken— but whole.
The truest lesson then is to know that all shadows are formed by light, and that joy and pain, as partners, shape the fullness of our lives. As individuals, as a community, and as a world, we are each a critical part of the overall sacred balance of the universe.
This is my journey
— Nate Long “Owl”