Do You Bring GLOW or GLARE?

It is week eight in Scribbled Lives and the prompt was Lantern Festival. We were encouraged to create something around lanterns, light or letting go. I thought about it for two days, and looked for quotes about light. I found these words by James Thurber:

There are two kinds of light – the GLOW that illuminates, or the GLARE that obscures.

-James Thurber 1961

We had a fire in our fire pit recently, and the sparks that flew off the flames stuck in my head. I wanted to word GLOW to be the focus of the piece, so I utilized metallic inks, crayons and gel pen to make it shine. I enjoyed the process and the outcome, as the word GLOW does indeed stand out.

I thought about the people I know who bring GLOW into my life. They are joyful, self aware and strive to make each interaction with others a way to make that other person feel and do better. Then I thought about others that all too often bring GLARE into every place they go. They are a source of turmoil, drama, or confusion often without realizing they have left a trail of ash in their wake.

Everyone wants light in their lives, yet not everyone is able to find that light. Be it current circumstances, past experiences, familial events, inheritances, life struggles or just a bad day. We all struggle to glow at one time or another. And we all have options to employ when we find our glow is a little shabby. Do we hunker down and stay away until our glow shines again? Do we let it out without realizing how it impacts others? Do we turn to a trusted resource (friend, book, counselor) that can help us sort out the glare to help us get back to our glow? Or do we even realize that our glow is gone and we need to shine it up a bit?

Everyone has been the source of glare at one time or another, everyone. No matter the brave face you put on, the silence you imply, or how you THINK your behavior hides your glare, your glare still shows. And it can hurt people. And that hurt can take a long time to heal. Hurting people hurt people, whether they know it or not. When our glare is out there is does damage that may or may not be able to be repaired if left out there too long.

The wisest people I know are self aware and take the time to remove their glare by dealing with it before causing hurt in others. The people I know who are all too often a source of glare seem not to think, or be aware of how their actions hurt others. I guess it really boils down to self awareness and an ability to want to handle the glare in our lives BEFORE we act out and tarnish someone else’s glow.

Being a grown up can be tough. Especially when we struggle with days where glare is all we seem to be able to muster. Do that long enough and it becomes your brand, your persona, sadly enough maybe it becomes your legacy. It goes back to the old joke, some people make the room brighter when they enter, others when they leave.

I write this to remind us all that we do indeed have a choice – bring your GLOW or bring your GLARE? It is our choice each and every day, in each and every interaction we have with the people in our lives. Not sure which one you are bringing, have the guts to ask, and then listen. Pause for the cause, your brand and your relationships are worth asking the tough questions, then act to employ or reengage your GLOW.