By Travis Giauque

Every now and then, we hear people lament, "Why me? Why, why, why?" I’ve found myself uttering those very words in the past. We all know that life doesn’t always go our way. However, as we come to understand, believe in, and apply the universal Law of Polarity, we will see that everything is working for our benefit and upward progression. It all comes down to what we choose to do with the knowledge we gain from our experiences. Such is the nature of this law.

I remember, when I was younger, visiting some caves with good friends. Deep inside the cavern, someone suggested we turn off our flashlights. As soon as we did, the darkness enveloped us so thickly that we couldn’t see our hands even when held directly in front of our faces. No matter how hard we tried, the darkness was absolute. And in that moment, I have never been so grateful for light as it pierced through the surrounding blackness.

Reflecting on that experience, I’ve come to realize that the darkness was undeniably dark, but the light remained light, no matter how intense the darkness. The two were opposites, and I wouldn’t have fully appreciated one without the other.

The Law of Polarity teaches us that everything has an opposite—that a bad situation is, in fact, equally good. I once heard it explained this way: imagine an individual picking up a stick. Whenever you pick up a stick, you always pick up both ends. They are opposite ends but are inseparable. And, as it goes, we get to choose which end of the stick we use.

As the internal debate of “why me?” may stir within us, let’s pause and consider what the opposite end of the stick may hold. What good could be directly opposite this current trial? Remember, by universal law, it exists. The trial and the reward are opposites of each other—“equal and opposite,” just like the stick. As Leslie Householder puts it in Hidden Treasures, "If something is a little bit bad, then it is only a little bit good. If something is catastrophic, then there is, within it, something phenomenal."

Take a moment to digest that as I share an experience where I realized the blessing that came as the exact opposite companion to a trial.

At eleven years old, I experienced excruciating abdominal pain while sledding. I went home, doubled over in agony, and stayed that way for two weeks before my parents and I decided to see a doctor. The doctor advised us to go to the hospital for further tests. Although they weren’t certain of the cause, the severity of my pain led them to recommend exploratory surgery.

When they performed the surgery, they discovered that my appendix had ruptured two weeks earlier, and the pain I had been feeling was due to an unusual collection of poison in my body. I have since come to appreciate that pain, knowing that without it, I would never have sought medical attention, and that poison would have continued to harm me.

When we find ourselves facing situations that test our patience, we can take comfort in knowing that, by law, something good is coming from it. We only need to focus on that reality—grateful for the difficulty, knowing the blessing exists alongside it. If we learn to expect the opposite, knowing that it is real and true, good will find its way to us. We may not know what the opposite or good will be, but we can trust that it is there, waiting. We just need to choose to focus on the other end of the stick, even when it is not yet visible.

Leslie Householder also teaches, "If you never look for it, you may never find it, and you could live your whole life only seeing the bad. The high achievers, those who live abundantly, make this a habit: they look for good, and more good comes."
Let’s choose to believe in this law, apply it with intention, and embrace the good that all trials bring—always expecting even more to follow.

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