Deep Thoughts: Shine on the Green Light

You know those special fun days you plan and plan for. Well, I had finally decided to go out and have some fun. I planned it for a while making sure everything was right; the timing, finance, everything was planned perfectly or so I thought until the day finally came and things started with major disappointment and resulted in feeling my spirit do a little jerk and leave me, screaming Nooooooooooo! I barely pulled it back in place.

I had planned to watch ‘Intern’ at the cinema, a movie someone recommended to me. I didn’t mind that my mom was also interested in it or that she invited her friend. I didn’t mind at all. What I did mind was getting there and being told that the movie wasn’t airing. Why on earth didn’t they update their website? As if that was not enough, the only movie airing on that time frame was a Nigerian movie. Whoever goes to the cinema to watch a Nigerian movie? Perhaps only me and about nine others who saw the movie on that day. My mom for all her security concerns did a double take and almost ran back as the place was dark and we could only see a shadow of a person.

“Oh no, you don’t, you (mom) brought me here and we shall see it through.” Teeth gritting we made our way up to the very last row, I knew my mom could have been thinking if there was a problem she could break the back glass, do some James Bond move and escape. Finally, I settled to enjoy the movie for all it was worth and the first scene took my breath away.

They were speaking Yoruba. It was a Yoruba movie. I watched a pidgin English subtitled Yoruba movie at the cinema. I wanted to hide immediately. Not that there was anyone to hide from in the first place. With my will, my choice, my hope, and happiness are torn, bruised and battered, I sank deeper into my seat to enjoy the movie popcorn.

I would feel excellently good If I share what happened in the movie with you so I am not the only one burdened with the experience but as I really feel gracious today, I will talk about what happened after.

I felt very light. I had gone out to have fun and I actually did. We all laughed and cracked jokes about how pathetic the acting was and the theatrics of Adigun. Don’t ask me who that is. And initially, I thought I had not learned anything until someone asked me and I thought about it only to discover I had.

This brings me to the point I want to make. There is no situation, weakness or challenge that doesn’t have a bright side to it. You just have to shine on the green lantern and flex your super powers. The green light is a positive outlook or perspective on things. I was reading an article by Brett Steenbarger, a contributor on Forbes and this phrase caught me; How many of our weaknesses are unfulfilled strengths seeking proper expression?

It got me thinking and I remembered what happened during my fun outing. It is all about perspective, how we look at things. Sometimes we could find ourselves taking things as they are or as people tell us. You are too short, too tall, you talk too much (I am guilty of that) and then we limit ourselves. Sometimes we even tell ourselves. I can’t do this because of this weakness, I am too shy, I am too small, I do not know maths, I suck at technical things, yada yada and so on and we never get to try.

But what if we looked at it all differently, like Brett said, Instead of viewing weaknesses as problems to be minimized and worked around, we can view our vulnerabilities as a function of unfulfilled strengths. Because sometimes it is our neglected strengths that make us weak. Finding and expressing the strengths underlying our weaknesses not only makes us stronger. It makes us truer to ourselves. And by looking at the idea that our dark sides represent light unable to break through, we will open the door to new ways of “managing” our weaknesses.

For example, I sleep a lot, in the bus, in the car, even as early as 8 pm. But now I look at it through the green light and see that by loving sleep, I am able to sleep early and catch enough sleep before waking up at 4:20 am to get ready for work. And believe me, I am most productive because I am always well rested.

And it’s not just our weaknesses but in every situation, we should turn on the green light because there will always be something positive lurking behind it. The strength shadowed by that weakness, the stepping stone veiled as an obstacle, the talents hidden behind eccentricity, the gold covered beneath the dirt, the kindness buried beneath that wickedness, etc.

So folks, let’s start shining the green light on everything. You bet we would be surprised what we will discover.

Jaa Mata!