Journal

The wisdom of ambivalence

Two opposing feelings may be evidence that more than one truth needs a place in the decision.

Ambivalence is often treated as a failure to know. We pressure ourselves to identify the real feeling and discard the other one.

But opposing feelings can both be true. You may want to leave and want to be found. You may love someone and know that the relationship cannot continue in its current form. You may welcome a change and grieve what it removes.

Ambivalence slows decisions because it protects complexity. Each side may be carrying information the other cannot hold.

Rather than asking which feeling is correct, try asking what each one is responsible for. What value does the yes protect? What danger does the no perceive? What would each part need in order to tolerate the eventual choice?

We cannot always create an outcome that satisfies every truth. But we can make a decision that has listened before it acts.

Ambivalence may not be confusion waiting to disappear. It may be the psyche refusing to simplify a life before it is ready.

Emma James Psychotherapy