Yin Yang and OppThink

From Wikipedia:

Many natural dualities - e.g. dark and light, female and male, low and high - are cast in Chinese thought as yin yang. Yin and yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis. ... Yin and yang are thought to arise together from an initial quiescence or emptiness ... and to continue moving in tandem until quiescence is reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more. ... Yin yang describe opposing qualities in phenomena. For instance, winter is yin to summer's yang over the course of a year, and femininity is yin to masculinity's yang in human relationships. It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite.

But how can the concept of Yin Yang be applied to our lives?
Why is it beneficial?
Here are some examples.

Predictive Power and Hope

Recognizing a Yin Yang relationship between two opposites can help you predict what is coming next in your environment. For example, once ancient humans realized that summertime would eventually be replaced by its opposite, winter, they could plan for this by gathering food and storing it during summer and fall's plentiful hunting/gathering seasons in preparation for winter's inevitable return.

Also, the knowledge that winter is always replaced eventually by its opposite, summer, gave hope during winter's darkest hours. Hopes keep dreams alive, and help us survive mentally trying times.

A similar thing can be said about Boom and Bust cycles in our economy. At the height of the housing boom, in the middle of this decade, many were predicting a big bust to come. Smart people were able to heed this advice and avoid devastating losses. Similarly, smart investors know that the down times are the periods of opportunity, since in general a boomtime nearly always returns, based on general past trends. Yes, some individual investments may stay down forever, or go belly up, but taken as a whole, the housing and stock markets always recover eventually from bust times, and always come down from irrationally exuberant boom times. The wise OppThinker looks for such Opportunity Openings and jumps in to benefit from them.

Another example: relationships with the opposite sex. Losing at love can be handled better if you know that, eventually, love will return. Doesn't it seem that, just when dating seems to be in its darkest days, you meet that perfect person?

Of course, this does not happen to everyone, every time. It is not a hard and fast law of nature. But remember one of the general ideas behind Yin Yang: within everything is the seed of its opposite. This is what keeps me cautious and prudent when things are going great, and hopeful when they're not.