Sunday Musings – June 23, 2019
The many shades of green
Yesterday my friend Annie and I were returning from Pittsburgh where we had enjoyed a fun and extremely well-done performance of the Sherlock Holmes play, Speckled Band, following by a pleasant dinner visit with our mutual friend John. As I was headed home I asked Annie how many shades of green she could see. It has been a very rainy spring which, although a cause of much angst for those experiencing flooding and mud slides, is also the reason the foliage in mid-June is so lush. I am not an artist but am often attempting to paint this luscious landscape in my head. I am acutely aware of the seemingly hundreds, if not thousands, of shades of green I will need for this painting. Of course, as the earth spins around the sun or the clouds provide a shield, the shades of green change and play with one another.
The shades of green seem to me a metaphor or perhaps even a mirror for the many shades of me and the many shades of all the amazing people I encounter as I continue this life dance. Many times, we are tempted to allow others to define us by one characteristic or one behavior. Sometimes we are tempted to define ourselves by a medical diagnosis. I recall when the AIDS epidemic first arrived, heath care professionals and other talked about people dying with AIDS. Some brilliant individuals suggested that we begin to talk about people living with AIDS. That proved, for many to be a huge paradigm shift. Even now we are tempted to label others or even ourselves as immigrants, addicts, a cancer patient, a criminal, an athlete, a person with a particular gender. While those labels may or may not describes part of one’s history or one aspects of one’s body or life, they do not tell us who the person is. They do not tell us the many shades of green each of us is.
All of us are much more than the labels we accept or others assign us. We have unlimited possibilities. Each part of our life dance can allow us to stretch and grow into another shade of green; to discover a new talent, a new level of empathy, a new level of joy.
One of my dearest friends was just diagnosed with spinal osteoporosis. She remarked that one of the challenges is to not dwell on the diagnosis or to allow her life to be defined by this diagnosis. This transition will be a learning curve but given she is aware of the danger of becoming one’s diagnosis she will learn to live with her new dance while doing all the exercises and other self-care which will minimize the restrictions.
Given the culture in which we live it is easy to fall into the trap of labeling others or ourselves as one shade of green. We will all benefit by noticing when we do this and gently reminding ourselves that all of us are many shades of green.
Written June 23, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
The many shades of green
Yesterday my friend Annie and I were returning from Pittsburgh where we had enjoyed a fun and extremely well-done performance of the Sherlock Holmes play, Speckled Band, following by a pleasant dinner visit with our mutual friend John. As I was headed home I asked Annie how many shades of green she could see. It has been a very rainy spring which, although a cause of much angst for those experiencing flooding and mud slides, is also the reason the foliage in mid-June is so lush. I am not an artist but am often attempting to paint this luscious landscape in my head. I am acutely aware of the seemingly hundreds, if not thousands, of shades of green I will need for this painting. Of course, as the earth spins around the sun or the clouds provide a shield, the shades of green change and play with one another.
The shades of green seem to me a metaphor or perhaps even a mirror for the many shades of me and the many shades of all the amazing people I encounter as I continue this life dance. Many times, we are tempted to allow others to define us by one characteristic or one behavior. Sometimes we are tempted to define ourselves by a medical diagnosis. I recall when the AIDS epidemic first arrived, heath care professionals and other talked about people dying with AIDS. Some brilliant individuals suggested that we begin to talk about people living with AIDS. That proved, for many to be a huge paradigm shift. Even now we are tempted to label others or even ourselves as immigrants, addicts, a cancer patient, a criminal, an athlete, a person with a particular gender. While those labels may or may not describes part of one’s history or one aspects of one’s body or life, they do not tell us who the person is. They do not tell us the many shades of green each of us is.
All of us are much more than the labels we accept or others assign us. We have unlimited possibilities. Each part of our life dance can allow us to stretch and grow into another shade of green; to discover a new talent, a new level of empathy, a new level of joy.
One of my dearest friends was just diagnosed with spinal osteoporosis. She remarked that one of the challenges is to not dwell on the diagnosis or to allow her life to be defined by this diagnosis. This transition will be a learning curve but given she is aware of the danger of becoming one’s diagnosis she will learn to live with her new dance while doing all the exercises and other self-care which will minimize the restrictions.
Given the culture in which we live it is easy to fall into the trap of labeling others or ourselves as one shade of green. We will all benefit by noticing when we do this and gently reminding ourselves that all of us are many shades of green.
Written June 23, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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