Friday, May 13, 2011

Noticing The Inverse

The past year, I've finally put into words something that has been true for me for a very long time.

If have a certain quality, we will notice the opposite quality in others.  Here is a partial list of inverse qualities that I have noticed.





Personal Quality


Opposite Or Inverse Quality That You Will Notice


Honesty


Lies and Lying


Skilled


Incompetent


Reliable


Unreliable


Polite


Rude


Clean


Dirty


Good Work


Bad Work


Hard Working


Lazy


Experienced


Inexperienced


Intelligence


Stupidity


Generous


Cheap


Fair


Unfair


Loyal


Disloyal


Knowledgeable


Ignorant


Informed


Uninformed


Educated


Uneducated


Law Abiding


Crime


Non-Corrupt


Corruption


Non-Political


Politics and game playing


You are in Love


You can tell when someone is not in Love


You have a nice house, car, equipment, etc., well maintained, fully operational, and works properly.


Unmaintained ugly house, car, or equipment that works like crap, or doesn't work at all.


Quiet


Loud people


Good driver


Bad driver


Non smoker


Smoke from smokers (cough)


Rich or poor


Poor or rich


Healthy or Sick


Sick or Healthy


And so on. 


The opposite of some of these qualities may not necessarily be obvious.  For instance, if you are rich, you may not know just what it is like to be poor.  You may need to become poor to notice the difference.  If you have always been healthy, you may not recognize the sickness of others right away.  However, once you have experienced the opposite, you will recognize both.  

Sometimes the positive thinkers will say that it is a bad mental attitude to notice these things.  If you focus your energy on it, you will attract it. 

However, my experience is that if you do good work, you will notice the co-workers that do not.  Especially when it's your job to correct their mess, or do their work that they didn't do! 

If you have to move from a nice area to another city where there is a lot of crime, or to another country where there is a lot of corruption, you are going to notice the difference.  You haven't changed your thinking at all to attract it.  Only your location.  But suddenly you notice!   It's now all around you.  

Nor does it explain why some bad things may happen to good people.  

In addition to the opposite, we can recognize similar qualities in others.  If you wax your car to a beautiful finish, you will notice when a stranger's car is also nicely waxed.   

People in sub cultures will also recognize each other quickly.  If you are a minority foreigner in another country, you will soon learn who all the ex-patriots are in your area.  Trend setters such as those already driving electric cars, instantly bond.  

I've read of some people that are hyper sensitive to all the chemicals in today's environment and food.  The different chemicals make them sick.  They can tell by their body's reactions what chemicals are in the environment.  And they know when they are in a healthy environment.  They don’t want to be sick, but their environment affects them.  


So, perhaps there is some truth that we attract certain things to ourselves.  However, such a simple concept, does not explain everything for me.  I'm not looking for all the bad qualities above.  But I do notice them when I see them.

How about you?  What are the opposite qualities in others that you notice??

1 comment:

  1. Great post! That's so very true, yet we rarely stop to think about the "opposites". Thanks!

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