I’ve noticed a lot of hate and confusion going around lately. And I’m sure you have too. It’s unavoidable in our political atmosphere, but I’ve been noticing it at work and in my personal life as well. The world is not perfect. People are not perfect. I am not perfect. But the world is not black and white, and neither am I. (These pictures may appear to be black and white, but they are not.) There’s also more than one side to me. There is more than one side to the story. There’s more than two sides. There’s more than three sides. This Valentine’s Day, I’d like to encourage everyone to look past the sides that you thought you knew existed, and to find an entirely new angle of looking at things. (I recently had my mind blown at work when I realized how many different ways my community was looking at a single situation.) It seems to me that when we really dive deep, deeper than what we thought was possible, we can find that a lot of our hate is based in confusion. When we can really understand that there are multiple pieces that make up each one of us as humans, and that a lot of my pieces are pretty similar to a lot of your pieces, it becomes so much easier to listen, compromise, unify, and grow.
Part 2 of this Valentine’s Day challenge is to look at your own pieces that make up who you are. I’ll bet that there are quite a few pieces that don’t get too much attention, or maybe they get a lot of attention, but not positive attention. Find those pieces, and send them some love. When we love our complete selves, it gets easier to love others.
Happy Valentine’s Day. Here are some of my pieces.
Taken on iPhone 6. New Orleans, LA
