My four-year old grandson Tee loves the breakfast smoothies I make with bananas and strawberries. As I was peeling a banana with brown spots, preparing to pinch off a bruise, Tee said, “Stop Lizzie. Papa says the brown spots are the sweetest.”
This got me thinking about how we frame our experiences. Most people (North Americans particularly) see brown on a banana as a blemish, something to be avoided. But Tee sees it as a predictor of something sweet and delicious.
There is an oft-told tale that as Thomas Edison was seeking a filament for the incandescent light bulb, he “failed” dozens (if not hundreds) of times. When his young assistant said, “Mr. Edison, how do you keep going when you have failed over 100 times?” It’s reported that Mr. Edison looked at the young man and said, “I have not failed, I’ have discovered 100 things that don’t work.”
Edison saw his “failures” as merely steps along the way to eventual success.
Both Tee and Mr. Edison chose to frame what many would see as a negative, as positives, as opportunities.
My invitation for this week is to be curious about how you frame the “brown spots” in your life. What sweetness may be hiding there? It may be a challenging colleague or friend, a goal you didn’t reach, or a project that fell apart.
What did you learn and what unexpected opportunity may be hiding in the aftermath?
Let me know what you discover.
Until next Tuesday,
Elizabeth