By Renae Pelo

Everything has an opposite. We know that. Hot and cold. Male and female. Up and down. In and out. The truth is, we couldn’t have one without the other. We accept it without question. The Law of Polarity (or Opposites) teaches us that everything has an opposite that is equal. Let’s explore this law and why being consciously aware of it matters so much to our happiness and well-being.

If this law is true in all things, it means that when something goes wrong, we can expect something equally right to come along. Right? Yes. It might not always seem that way in the moment because we’re too close to the situation. But with time and a little perspective, it becomes obvious. For example, even though I cried buckets of tears when my boyfriend joined the Air Force when I was a young teenager, it eventually led me to the marvelous man I’ve now been married to for fifty years.

Sometimes we’re tempted to believe there are exceptions—especially when natural disasters, like the tsunami that took so many lives and devastated miles of shoreline, occur. But even then, the world had the opportunity to come together, to rally support, to rebuild, and to offer compassion that might not have otherwise been awakened. Hearts softened, and those who survived were forever changed in how they viewed their place in the world.

When my husband was just seven years old, his father died in a mining accident. On the way into town, he cried, "Don't let my daddy be dead," only to find out his greatest fear was true. What could possibly be worse for a little boy? His mother had to move them into town so she could support them through menial labor. Yet because of that, he was encouraged to pursue college—something that might never have happened otherwise. He graduated, became a Certified Public Accountant, and married me. Together, we became parents of ten children and grandparents of fifty-seven.

None of that would have happened if his father hadn't died. Without that tragedy, my husband would likely have stayed on the farm or joined the Navy like his brothers. I lived over three hundred miles away from his hometown. We never would have met in Yellowstone Park—where he was sent to work as a teenager and where I happened to go after graduating high school.

I am certainly not grateful that he grew up without the love and guidance of his father. But I am deeply grateful we met and built the life we have together.

We don't get to judge the law—we simply experience the results of it.

As Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said, "Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit."

That’s why learning about the universal laws and applying them consciously in our lives is so valuable. Awareness gives us the power to thoughtfully participate in life rather than just react to it. It allows us to search for the silver lining instead of falling victim to the circumstances. Even when a woman experiences PMS, she can take comfort in knowing the rest of the month will be better.

Now, does the Law of Polarity mean that when we've had a good day or a wonderful event, we need to brace ourselves for the other shoe to drop? After all, what goes up must come down, right?

Not exactly. Living the laws consciously simply makes us more aware—and more accountable—for how we experience our circumstances. Remember what we learned from the Law of Relativity: it’s our thinking that makes something good or bad. If we focus on the negative, we’ll see more of it. But if we train our minds to look for the best in any situation, we can actually get excited when things seem to go wrong—because it means something wonderful must be just around the corner.

That is the joy of the Law of Polarity.

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