Green Is Not A Color
Note: this is a guest post by David B. Bohl from Slow Down Fast. Images by Ecstaticist (above) and Hichako (below).
I suspect some people are nodding their heads, thinking, “Exactly. Green is a lot of colors. You’re going to talk about fashion and forest green and emerald and hunter and Kelly.”
Others are thinking, “Of course green is a color. What else would it be? A political leaning? This guy’s probably going to try to evangelize me.”
No, sorry, to both groups.
I want to tell you a story. Years ago I was a serious workaholic, putting in 80 to 100 hours a week. One day I just realized I was literally killing myself, decided I wanted to see 40, and made some changes in my life. Drastic and immediate changes, including quitting my job and moving from Chicago to Wisconsin.
In southeast Wisconsin, we have trees. And one day, not long after I moved, I noticed those trees. And what I noticed was that they were not just green. The trees had different shades and coloring. And after a while I noticed that they looked different every day, and even at different times of day, based on how the light was hitting them.
What I was noticing was that the detail of those trees. I was realizing that when a child colors a tree, and it’s just green, that’s not really because the tree is green, but because when we see a tree, we think green.
The problem wasn’t just that I had been working so hard that I never noticed the true colors of trees. The problem was that I had been working very hard and had not noticed much of anything.
I think that’s a really common issue for a lot of us. We don’t really know that, for instance, there’s a mockingbird living in the tree outside our window, because we’re not paying attention.
We may drive past a building fifty times and finally say, “When did they paint that?” only to realize it’s been that color for the past two hundred times we’ve driven by. We just didn’t notice.
There’s an old saying, “I’m so broke I can’t even pay attention.” I think that is, actually, really true. We get into a poverty mindset and start focusing so much on what we don’t have and what we need to do to get it, that we can’t pay attention.
We’re working too hard to notice the world. We don’t realize trees are a multitude of colors, particularly in the spring when the colors burst into the world.
What else are we missing? What’s it going to take for us to start noticing? And why do we have to be reminded that we’re not paying attention? I think those are all excellent questions for me to apply to my life today.
How can you start paying more attention in your life?
This article was written by David B. Bohl - Husband, Father, Friend, Lifestyle Coach, Author, Entrepreneur, and creator of Slow Down FAST. For more info visit his blog at Slow Down Fast blog.
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15 Comments
December 18th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Awe Peter, you’re getting all deep on us! Lol.
Seriously though, nice post Peter. I think you hit the nail on the head.
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December 18th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I was thinking, “this guy doesn’t doesn’t know how to spell colour” - LOL.
Seriously, though, thanks David for another great guest post. I am both intrigued and inspired by your amazing story of change. And this article is a great reminder that we can all gain something by slowing down and being more aware of our surroundings.
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December 18th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
David - I couldn’t agree more! A number of years ago I wrote an article called Let Nature Remind You that spoke about the concept of getting in tune with the rhythms of nature. It’s strange how nature seems to move so slow, and yet so fast at the same time!
Thanks for the great reminder!
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December 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
[...] Green is Not a Color [...]
December 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Kevin, Peter, and Patrick,
I’m delighted that you enjoyed my article. I’ve learned that people usually react in 3 distinct ways when they hear my story:
1. They do not see any parallels in their current situations, yet they know they don’t ever want to wind up where I was,
2. They see themselves headed in a direction similar to where I was in my earlier life, and want to act now before they digress any further, and
3. They are where I was and they now see things as they really are. They’re hopeful that they can change themselves and their situations for the better and find comfort and inspiration knowing that others have accomplished the same goals.
Davdi
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December 18th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Instead of ’stop and smell the roses’, your motto is ’stop and see the green’. It’s an interesting take on an old idea.
I definitely feel that way about SUSHI. I cannot tell you how many people insist that they don’t ‘like’ sushi because they don’t like raw fish. T
hese same people have never eaten salmon sashimi in soy sauce. (Yum!) Never even gave it a chance, because they think they know what raw fish tastes like. These are the same people who might have their beef ‘rare’.
Additionally, you can order rolls, like shrimp tempura, which has no ‘raw’ non-vegetable items.
So my point is that a way of expanding your ‘vision’ might be to rethink what you are willing to eat.
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December 18th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Lovely thoughts and very true. Took some time the other day and just watched the birds in all of the trees. Realized how easy it would be to miss them blending into the branches if I did not stop to see.
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December 18th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Actually, I don’t have any of those reactions. I was very isolated in a job in my mid-twenties, so I started journal writing. Oh, wow! There’s nothing like taking notes to wake you up to the world. I never fell into the achievement trap. Life is too precious for that.
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December 18th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
David,
You asked, “What else are we missing?” I think the answer to that is connection to other people. When I don’t pay attention, not only do I miss the connection to nature that keeps me in tune with the rhythms of life, but I also miss out on the connection to others around me. I live in my self contained bubble more than I would like. However, I’ve made an effort recently to reach out to others more - to pay attention to them as well as the world around us. I’m not perfect, but I find that when I do pay attention, I get so much more out of life.
Thanks for this post!
Cathy
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December 18th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Jean,
Congratulations to you! You’ve avoided something that many of us often don’t know that we’ve fallen prey to.
David
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Actually, my initial thought was that green is a lifestyle. By this I mean becoming more eco-friendly… So I was pretty surprised by how your article turned out to be. While I am always on the lookout for green living posts, this is also a refreshing point of view. Your green is to be able to see and appreciate all the beautiful things around us. Bloggers who are stuck in their computers all day, especially, need to be reminded of this.
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