What if instead of All or Nothing, we play inbetween?
You’re listening to the Love Tidbits Podcast, where you’ll discover a small, tasty, delightful, bite-sized tidbit of love. I’m your host, LeAnn Austin
Hey y’all, welcome to Love Tidbits, episode number nine, Play in the Gray
I taught a workshop recently about playing in the gray, and as I’ve been practicing this in my life, I’ve discovered it’s a great place to be.
There’s a thought pattern that you may have noticed in yourself or others, it’s referred to as black and white thinking. Which is defined as the inability to bring together both positive and negative perceptions of self, others, or circumstances into a whole view. So black and white thinking are thoughts that make people think in absolutes, swinging from one extreme to the other, believing something is all good or all bad.
When you’ve been observing black and white thinking, what are some words that come up? For example, I’ve heard always or never, right/wrong, all in or all out, on/off, all/nothing, and good or bad.
Gray thinking is the in between the spectrum of black and white. Gray thinking is ambiguous, it’s uncertain, it doesn’t have clearly defined characteristics. Gray thinking is a mindset that’s open to new ideas. So always and never become sometimes. All or nothing, become some. Perfect or imperfect, become good at some things and bad at others. Or becomes And.
I’ve been practicing this in my life. And I used to think that I had to be eating all of the sugar or none of the sugar. There was no in-between. I was either on track or off track. Now, I play in the gray where I have some sugar. And sometimes more than I want, but I’m learning not to make it a problem. As I love myself, and I love different things about my body, eating some sugar is something I’m getting better at instead of all or none.
Another thing that I’ve been practicing is B- work. I used to think everything had to be perfect, A work, but I discovered that there were things I wouldn’t even attempt doing because I didn’t think they’d be good enough. Well, now I know that it’s okay if my wording isn’t exact, or my picture isn’t me all dolled up, B- work is like playing in the gray. And, you know what, it’s sharing information and it’s helping me learn and get better at things instead of doing nothing at all.
There’s a quote I love by Brene Brown: “The middle is messy, but it’s also where the magic happens.”
Hmmm, something to think about.
Have a good one y’all ~ and here’s to love and playing in the gray.
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