Embrace the Shadows

Isn't it incredible how much one picture can change dependent on the lighting. Everyone is ALWAYS worried about the lighting for their pictures. It could never be you, it's always the lighting. Lighting is no good, the picture is no good. Same person, same situation, but the lighting is different, now all of a sudden it is your favourite picture ever.

Have you ever noticed the same thing happens with nature? Same landscape, but add snow. It's a totally different view, it starts to depict the things that we didn't notice before. Fall hits and the tress begin to lose their leaves, the branches are still the same, but now it's naked and we have a totally different opinion about the beauty of the tree. I really started noticing this after living in New Zealand because there are beautiful rolling hills and mountains that I see everyday, but once the sun starts to set. Wow! The shadows really bring out the beauty and shows all the edges and valleys that I don't necessarily see when the sun is shinning so bright straight down on the hills.

Now imagine yourself as the hill. Where do you want your light to shine? Are we trying too hard to cover up our shadows? Maybe our shadows are our weaknesses and we don't want to expose these to other people. What if these weaknesses and shadows are what brings out our true beauty? It is easy to shine light on the things that we are good at and our strengths. How do we mange are shadows? Do we try to cover them up with the light? Why are we trying to cover up who we are? Our shadows are a part of what makes us unique. Ultimately, I think we should try to lighten our shadows, but that isn't to say we should make them bright. It is important to focus on our light as that is when we are at our best and how we can make the most change. We shouldn't lose ourselves in the brightness, we need to recognize our shadows and value them for what they're worth.

Our life is just like a picture and we know that it's not always picture perfect. Sometimes we may look at ourselves and our picture may be too bright. Maybe this is due to arrogance or refusal to recognize the shadows. Maybe our picture is too dark because we are focusing on the shadows and not giving enough recognition to our light. I hope that we all reach that moment when we can say, our lighting is just right. It is right where we want it to be. I hope that in that moment we can recognize how we got there and how we can remain there. Life is going to throw us curve balls and we may strike out, but that doesn't mean we can't hit a homerun the next time we are up at bat.

Recall the positive memories and your successes, but also reflect on the darkness. I believe that a lot of my brightness came from the darkness. If I stayed in the brightness, I would never learn, I would continue to be vulnerable to the things that I pretend not to see.

Shine your light, but don't be scared to explore your shadows.

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Who am I suppose to be

If I'm not allowed to be me

I've got my hair up in a bun

No sunscreen on, soaking up the sun

I know they say the sun will give you cancer

But I'm not looking to them for the answer

I'm just trying to be me

Loosing my mind, I want to be free

Be here, be there, time constraints

I'm not putting you in my diary, no dates remain

I'm not living my life off a schedule

No I wasn't born up on a pedestal

I'm just trying to live my life for me

Not trying to be who you want me to be

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