Pink Sunglasses
My uncle is Mike Smith. He passed away several years ago, but some of my favorite memories include him.
It was the 80s. Life was great. Summertime had arrived, and we were together for a family reunion. Per usual, cousins were strewn throughout all the cars, which meant that Uncle Mike was riding with us. He sat in the back of our van, next to me.
Mike commented about the beautiful surroundings. Yes, we agreed. The sky and the mountains were very pretty. He didn’t stop.
“Oh! You guys! Look at that sky! I can’t believe it—can you believe how gorgeous this is?! It’s unbelievable! I’ve never seen anything better!”
Everyone looked at Mike, then out the windows. Sure, it’s great.
“Well, this is just the prettiest durned thing…”
“DAD!”
My cousin’s outburst jolted him from the river of admiration and awe he was swimming in.
“Take off your pink sunglasses!”
I looked over as my uncle sheepishly took his sunglasses off. (It was the 80s, and pink tinted sunglasses were in). We laughed and laughed.
I have been thinking about the sunglasses we wear, metaphorically. We all have a tint to them. It’s our lens, the way we view the world.
For my Uncle Mike, his whole world looked breathtaking, in magnificent hues of pink and red. It was all he could see. His sunglasses colored his reality.
Sometimes, the lens we are viewing the world through isn’t beautiful. It can be a lens of unfairness, so everything that happens in the world is evidence that our lens is right. We can’t see anything else.
We may be looking at our world with a lens of bad luck. Nothing good ever happens to me. If there is bad luck, it finds me. If this is your lens, I guarantee you can build a case for why it is true.
We can have lenses of denial, where we refuse to see the facts. We choose to live in a fantasy world where things are how we want them to be, instead of how they are. This can happen with our children, spouses, friends, or even ourselves.
It’s good to take our sunglasses off now and again. I imagine it may have been a bit disappointing to find that the incredible sunset was actually quite ordinary…at first.
Amazing things happen when our glasses are off, and we can see things as they really are.
The facts are just facts, nothing more. We are the ones who decide what to think. The sunset can still be stunningly beautiful because we decide it is.
Even without pink sunglasses.
P.S. We aren’t very good at taking our sunglasses off ourselves. We often don’t even realize we have them on! Most of us need a little help. This is how life coaches can help you. Try a free session. It’s so worth it. Click the button and let’s go.
Uncle Mike is in the tan sport coat and sunglasses. 😎
