While on a bright beach, in our back yard, or when we face the bright glow of the sun, our shadow always appears. Sometimes we see it. Most times we don’t depending on the sun’s angle.
Shade, which essentially is the same as a shadow (in the sense that sunlight is not directly present when inside a shadow or in shade) is very different. We see shade. We seek out shade. But we never seek out to create our shadow.
Our shadow simply follows us when we are in the sun. We must be present for it to appear. Most times it goes unnoticed because we become blinded by the sun as if it is our spotlight.
My surprise was that our shadow remains present even on days when there is no sun. It remains attached to us in spite of the fact that no anatomy book acknowledges our shadow’s physical existence.
Filled with our biases, our imperfection, our limited experiences, our imperfect knowledge, our impulses, and our distractions, our shadow goes unnoticed on most days.
Our sun as spotlight, shines on us the issues and dreams we only care to see. Our sun blinds us to the possibility of the strength of our weaknesses and imperfection that huddle within our shadow and sabotage many of our efforts in life.
We look towards the sun with the eyes of a child, in both wonder and amazement, dreaming about what where we fit in and what we want to become. Our ego dances in its warm glow, acknowledging only our sun’s presence and arrogantly disregarding anything else that may be present.
The irony I see in our lives, is that it is only in recognizing our shadow and exploring its shade that brings us the greater possibility for inconceivable accomplishment. If only we weren’t so blinded (and fascinated) by our own sun to be able to see those things within our shadow that truly hold us back from achieving more.