Black, white or grey? Go for grey!

Be brave enough to enter the grey. Life's not all black and white. Pretending it is, is either legalism or escapism--sometimes both. Audrey Assad

Today's quote is almost continuing in the same vein as yesterday's. Religion will tell us that life is black or white but it's not. So many times we hit an area of life that makes us skid to a halt because it is grey and we don't know if we are allowed to enter the grey. But we are. We are allowed to enter the grey and most often we should enter it! It's in the grey that we learn things like grace. It's in the grey that we learn how to breathe easier and deeper. I think it's even in the grey where our true self is revealed. But entering into the grey takes courage, we must find the brave within us in order to do it. You know why? Because when we toe into the grey we usually end up rubbing people raw. Those who don't have the bravery to enter the grey, and can't see past the black and white, rise up and throw around false accusations, attribute characteristics to us that aren't true, deny relationship with us until we see things their way. You know what? It takes bravery to also look those people in the eye and with grace tell them you are entering the grey anyway and then turning around and entering in. It takes courage to risk important relationships and to risk people misunderstanding you.
Life isn't black and white. It isn't. And the only thing believing that will accomplish is getting tripped up. So save yourself a fall and be brave enough to enter the grey.

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Life according to van Gogh...sort of

There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing. Vincent van Gogh in a l etter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882 Life is a little bit like today's quote from van Gogh. Some of us live life focusing on the drawing - the details - and have very little color. Others of us go for the color and forsake, to a degree, the drawing - the details. Unlike painting, according to van Gogh, one is not wrong over the other but somewhere in between the two would be the best I would think. If you look at some of van Gogh's paintings I feel like you can see where he might have struggled between the "how to do it" and the " how not to do it" (as he admittedly loved color so much but knew he had to focus more on the drawing) and that seems to be reflected in his life as well. In the end he wasn't able to find the ...

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