Wearing sunglasses indoors

My sunglasses are still enjoying their recent promotion during the recent sunny period we’ve had in the North West of England.  Having been previously resigned to the bottom of the stairs on the off chance that there might be a job for them, they are now honoured with a ‘driver door pocket’ location.  They are living the dream!

Having to pop on those sunglasses whilst driving home from work is such a great feeling, the world always looks better in glorious sunshine.  So the glasses go on and the journey gets a little easier, I’m not squinting like I was, my eyes don’t have to react quite the same way to the bright sunlight streaming through the windscreen.  Much better…

…or is it?

I find that wearing shades dulls the brightness yes… but it also dulls the colours.

It quietens the vibrancy of the landscape.  The shade effect is good, but the filter that it puts on the surrounding glory is regrettable. Sunglasses can often give us a false view of the world, our view can be tainted and distorted.

Have you ever found yourself wearing sunglasses indoors or on a cloudy day.  What I mean to say is that we can sometimes wear shades when there is no reason to.  You’ve been outside and the sun was bright, the shades were helpful, but then when you walk indoors…you can’t see a thing!!  It’s at that point that we realise what we’ve done and the shades come off, we see things clearer.

You’ve probably guessed that I’m not actually talking about sunglasses, I’ve used a sneaky metaphor leading up to this point. I’m actually talking about our perception of those around us.

I’m a fervent believer in the gift of ‘the benefit of the doubt’.  I have found myself wearing sunglasses when there really wasn’t a need to.  I have viewed people through a filter, through a lens that gave a false perspective of a situation or worse, a person.  Maybe it is because I have experienced the benefit of the doubt that I try to use it myself.

When we’re discussing a situation with others or evaluating someone with our sunglasses, our perspective, our experience, it can give a false impression.  Although the view we have in front of us is more appealing or acceptable, it is false, distorted and often isn’t fair.  The distortion can often happen when we think we’ve been wronged by someone, maybe we’ve heard that someone has said something about us.  We don’t like the sound of that and we don’t engage the courage it takes to ask the person, so we start viewing the person through our filtered lens, and we get a distorted view.  It’s like wearing sunglasses indoors, we can’t actually see anything.

When we jump to conclusions or we talk about others, who aren’t present, we dull the colours around us.  We quieten the vibrancy that we are surrounded with.  The people in our lives are so full of colour and the colours really do range through the spectrum, there lies the beauty of it.  You and I are fearfully and wonderfully made, designed in all our uniqueness and with that truth there comes brightness.  As Sony would say ‘colour like no other’.

As we engage with and make the most of life with those around us, don’t dull the colours.  I know they are bright and sometimes ‘loud’ (in all sorts of ways) but just enjoy the sunshine and the vibrancy. Don’t dull it, distort it or make it easier to look at. We only trick ourselves when we put on shades and view people through our filter, our prejudice, our distortion.  See and love the colour.