A Yin Yang Story

Here's a story by Alan Cohen, it seemed appropriate considering our current fascination with yin and yang. Enjoy!

One morning, Eve decided it was time to clean her fishbowl. Unable to find a container in which to put her two goldfish, Yin and Yang, while the bowl was being cleaned, Eve let about two inches of water into her bathtub and lovingly placed the little creatures there.

when she finished scrubbing the bowl and putting the ceramic deep sea diver in a new position, Eve returned to find Yin and Yang engaged in a very thought-provoking behavior: the two goldfish were swimming around in one little corner of the bathtub, in a circle no bigger than the fishbowl!

In many ways, we humans are like the goldfish. We develop our patterns, our habits, our taught lifestyles (which we have adopted from families, friends, and television commercials), and then, when we have the chance to go beyond them to discover a new and freer dimension, we prefer to remain in our tiny corner of the world, though it offers us little joy, a lot of anxiety, and no expansiveness.

~From The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore
by Alan Cohen