I want to talk about an idea right out of quantum physics (don't worry, there's no math). For lack of a proper name, I'm going to call it the Both/And Perspective.  It has as it's opposite what I'll call the Either/Or Perspective. I'm going to suggest that by opening yourself to the both/and viewpoint, you'll bring huge amounts of growth to your life.

As I said, this idea is taken from quantum physics; I'll use the nature of light as an example. In school you might have come across the debate that light was a particle or that light was a wave, because sometimes it acts like one or the other.

In old-school (Newtonian) physics, they were like, "it has to be either a particle or a wave, it can't be both, so pick one." But what modern quantum physics has found is that indeed, light can be both a particle and a wave, depending on how you look at it. So in its very nature, it possesses two seemingly contradictory properties - at the same time.

Why is this relevant? The Both/And Perspective has always been a part of Eastern philosophies like Taoism, but for hundreds of years, Western society has been operating under the assumption that you have use the either/or outlook (long backstory, a lot of it has to do with Descartes). This has taken us away from a both/and perspective on the universe, even though there is a lot of evidence that it's how the natural world operates.

Do any of these beliefs sound familiar: you can be a person of logic or emotion, football or opera, math or the arts, linear thinking or "out of the box thinking". Well why not both. The both/and perspective allows for being able to encompass both sides of a coin. It's not always easy to hold this viewpoint, but you probably have practice. For example you can both love your significant other, and they can be a pain in the ass at the same time. It's not either/or, it's both/and.

That's where the power of this perspective comes in. If you can see much of the world as both/and, it allows you to see a lot more possibilities. This can a)help you see connections that make your life run more smoothly and b)take the pressure off of only having one reality, e.g. the idea that you can be both a good person and make mistakes vs. either you are a good person or you make mistakes.

As you go though your day, look for where an either/or perspective has created inertia, and where a both/and perspective might create movement. This could be in a work project, a personal relationship, or even just an opinion you have that isn't serving you anymore.