Embracing The Middle Ground

Letting Go Of Rigid Philosophies

There are people in life who struggle with many things. Those who have come to live their lives in a very rigid frame, that soon can develop into a philosophy of strict black or white type of thinking and reasoning.

A type of thinking that most of us are likely familiar with, and perhaps all of us at some point, have found ourselves processing thoughts in this fashion.

Most of the time, we don’t follow that road for long, and for the most part, we do indeed take that middle ground or the middle road.

Being in that middle seems to be one of the most open-minded, reasonable ways of thinking. As the diagram of a scale would probably show when both sides are equal, they create an even, steady line, that resembles the line of a horizon.

When I look at my own experiences, I see that I have had my fair share of black or white thinking.

What I have come to conclude and realize is, there are some definitive connections to the who, what, where and why of my personal rigid, two-tone thinking.

My black or white thinking was usually much more likely to happen when my mind was going through a strained, stressful time.

When my thinking was going irrational, the likeliness of that type of A or B thinking was probably going quite strong. Its prevalence was also much more apparent during times when my mental health and addiction times were at their strongest or worst.

I was a very unreasonable person in those times. But it all makes sense now. Because what is more unreasonable then a person who only believes in black or white ways of thinking?

We have the ability to see life through many spectrums once we do it with open minds. Taking that middle road seems to be able to provide with a better awareness of everything in our lives. We still will see and experience plenty of tough, and rough times. In reality, that fact will always be a given.

The positive side of it all is that when we are at that middle ground, we become better able to see many more of the beautiful things in life then we would if using black or white thought habits. Where black and white may give us ten wonderful things, while the middle ground may offer ten thousand wonderful things.

Mindfulness techniques and lessons offer us abilities to take in life, with a much wider view. When we find balance with our views and perspectives, we are able to find things that we may have missed if rigid.

One of the tough parts of being able to break free from a rigid form of thinking is the fact that for many people with mental health issues, black or white thinking represents a comfort zone. It is looked at as a way to protect oneself from any hazard, realistic or falsely perceived.

I challenge readers to ask themselves if this issue is one they are stuck to. Do you want to once again bring back balance to your thinking? Do you want to potentially find safety, and a sense of balance for things like mental health issues, especially things ones like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Social Anxiety.

Neither type of thinking is perfect. But, when able to see the entire horizon, we won’t feel like we need some type of black or white defensive mechanism. Taking the middle ground, and traveling the middle road, will offer you a better chance, of finding that peace.