I remember when I was young, eleven or twelve perhaps, we children used to play a game when we were all in the car on a family outing – usually a summer drive to the lake. One of we kids would pick a colour and then we would have a race to see how could get to ten cars of that colour first.
My favorite colour was red, and being the eldest I got to pick first. About half way through the race to ten it was as if all other coloured cars would magically vanish somehow and we would each notice only red cars – it was all we were looking for!
We would play a second game and Sue would pick green and the same phenomena would happen midway through the game. Cars that were not green in colour would mysteriously become invisible.
Didn’t matter how many games we played nor what colour we chose, the same vanishing trick would happen. We only saw the colour we were looking for!
Well in life it is kinda’ the same except thr colour is replaced by the tint of our heart’s deepest wound, or heartache, or pain. For example if I were a woman and was left pregnant and single by a man I loved deeply and whom I thought loved me back I might see men as bad guys and women as victims an interesting fit with the important feminist movement.
If I was young and for some reason became scared of people of colour and my parent reinforced my fear I might see people of colour as dangerous.
If I was a child shamed by my parents and teachers I might see authority figures as something to fight against – as a threat to my personhood.
And so it goes…
Instead of seeing clearly the life in front of us we tend to see only what we are looking for – a life-view distorted by the colour of our pain. We see only what reinforces the distorted life view of our heart’s ache. We unconsciously gather evidence to reinforce our skewed picture of life. We tend to become self – right –eous as we commit more deeply to the colour of our pain. We paint the world the clour of our wound and only see ‘red cars’. Our hurt ego cannot see it any other way.
Unless…
We are bring our pain into the light of the day by courageously and willing self-reflecting.
Unless…
We are willing to show a few trusted friends the colour of our pain.
Unless…
We are willing to let go of our wounds allowing our heart to heal into wholeness.
Until we are willing to heal our deepest wounds we will ongoing get exactly what we are looking for – green cars! We will continue to be blind to the magnificent rainbow of life that is always available to us.
The choice belongs to each of us – The Colour of My Pain or The Rainbow of Life.
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