Yoga Sutra Relevance to Me
11.33
Vitarka badhane pratipaksa bhavanam.
When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones should be thought of. This is pratipaksa bhavana.
This sutra is relevant to me because I feel like it describes my husband and I. He is the pessimist and I am the optimist. They always say opposites attract and it really is true. He is always the one expecting the worse, while I am the one looking at the bright side.
By reading and studying this Sutra, I can tell that we are not the only couple that this happens to. And it can be very frustrating at times. But, it is always worth it in the end.
For example, right before I left to come here, our tankless hot water heater started to give us problems.There is a lot of maintenance involved in those, so I suggested that he clean it. He was reluctant to clean it and was convinced that it must be broken. He continued to look at the negatives and how hard it would be or how much money it would cost for a new one. He was actually upset that I talked him into at least trying to clean it. Low and behold, after he actually did it, it worked. And all his negative thoughts and worries were false.
We always run into problems like that and I am so glad that we can work them through. Like yin and yang, opposites attract. I don't know how many other ways I can say it.