Saturday 11 January 2014

How many shades in your palette?

My folks gave me their old bread-maker a while back.  They're a cool thing eh?  You throw in a bunch of ingredients in a certain order, close the lid, set the program and walk away.  Depending on the cycle you've chosen, you open that lid in an hour or so and pull out the product of your creation.

We're like this you know.  We're a product.  And I'm not just talking spermie and ovum here, I'm talking more than that.  You take everything that has ever happened to you.  The big things, and the little things.  The things you think about every day and the things that creep into your mind when you forgot to put your guard up.  You add into that bread-maker every thing you've ever seen, every word ever spoken to you, every word that you weren't ever supposed to hear but did.  Out comes you.  The product of all of those things.

So here you are ... hopefully you've chosen to get baked ... ahem rather than just choosing the dough cycle. You're a big ol loaf of bread aka an adult.  Enough to make as many as a dozen different sandwiches.  And that's what we are.  We're not done as the loaf.  The loaf is just a phase.  We keep on changing as each experience takes hold.

Here's a thought.  What if each experience we have, is a color in our personal palette of 'colors' that decide how we see the world and those in it.  For instance, my palette of experiences are such that I see addicts and drug users differently than most.  Having met a 55 year old father of two who was addicted to IV cocaine, I don't just see people like him in the same way as most.  For I saw the love that those children felt. They each had their own rooms while he slept on the couch.  I met and cuddled the hamsters they had in their bedrooms living in makeshift empires in a small aquarium.  Not ideal.... but livin the dream no doubt by a hamster's standards.  So often in life I realize that each person I've let in, has taught me something profound. Ed told me that a friend first introduced him to IV cocaine.  "That is not a friend" he said with tears in his eyes.  Ed added a color to my palette so I don't see him as I know others would and do.

Another color was added a few years back when I worked with some young teens at a grocery store who were quitting the same time as I was.  I asked if they had received their vacation pay and neither had any clue what I was talking about.  What the heck is our school system teaching these kids!?  Now I see that few kids know the law and are being taken advantage of on the daily. A coffee giant in my city is basically forcing teens into taking on all the responsibilities of a Supervisor, with no pay increase.  I myself have seen and spoken out about a certain employer's blatant breaking of the Labor laws.  That of course got me fired without cause and paid out.  How does this color me?  It makes me question, and it makes me congratulate those who follow Employment Standards.  The golden arches may not be glamorous, but for the most part in Canada they follow labor code which is worth a lot in my opinion.  It's worthy of loyalty that's for sure.

The fact is, every single person I meet colors my view on life.  New friends I've made like the 23 year old completely un-vaccinated female who glows with health and beauty.  To another guy who would literally give you the shirt off of his back who is likely sitting in jail cuz he helped some friends ease their aches and pains with a plant. I met a woman who couldn't conceive until she quit eating all grains and was preggers in a few months. That makes me see bread, oatmeal, and a lot of other food differently.  Watched on tv a young M.D. who said that she just had to stop feeling.  She had realized long ago that her feelings weren't always real, but her thoughts were.  So she found it progressively easier to immerse herself in schooling.  That literally changed a color for me.  It gave me a way to deal with mental chatter and cyclical thinking that evokes sadness for me.  Change your thoughts~change your feelings.

I guess you could say that this palette thing just keeps changing to perpetuity. The number of shades is still your choice. Heck, some of us insist on keeping their palette very black and white!  In plain speak, my perception keeps changing with each experience I have, each person I meet, each day that passes.  

Hmmm ... maybe I should have gone with the spice rack analogy.  Cuz I think I like a lotta spice in my life!  How about you?

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