Yellow Lights
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photo credit: David Guenther
We know what to do at green lights and red lights, but what does a yellow mean to you?
For most drivers, a yellow light could mean a few things:
Speed up to make it before it turns red.
Stop abruptly.
Slow down and assess the situation.
Red and green are clear indications of instruction, but yellow leaves room for interpretation for each of us. Yellow lights require us to be present and mindful.
What areas of your life would benefit from you slowing down and assessing the situation? We all have things we know to avoid or else it leads us to be disappointed in ourselves. By naming these areas, we gain power over our decisions.
To become the best versions of ourselves, it requires that we visit the things that cause us to stumble. Consider your cautionary areas this week. Identify the areas where you are better off to proceed with caution and mindfulness. Yellow lights require us to think about other factors, look behind us and in front of us, consider our speed, and explore the consequences.
Use this exercise to think about the yellow lights in your life. Slowing down and becoming more aware is a gift you can give to yourself.
Yellow Lights
Yellow Lights are reminders to slow down and proceed with caution. These can be symbolic of areas in our life where we encounter temptations, influences, or triggers that keep us from being our best selves.
Self-awareness of these cautionary areas of our lives can help us build healthier relationships, avoid harsh self-criticism, and discover greater love for ourselves and others. Your yellow lights might be things that bring out the worst in you - competition, disagreements, certain topics of discussion, people that trigger you, a need for recognition, jealousy, ego, anger, or temptations.
Take a few minutes to consider areas of life where you want to be more aware of your personal yellow lights of caution. Then be aware, when you are approaching this situation or circumstance, it would benefit you to be mindful and cautious.
My Yellow Lights at Work or School:
My Yellow Lights at Home:
My Yellow Lights in Social Settings:
My Yellow Lights at Family Gatherings:
My Yellow Lights with Health:
We all have areas of life where we can be our best selves and other areas where we aren't the people we hope to be.
A place to start is to consider "Dante's Seven Deadly Sins" of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Does one of these represent an area of greater temptation for you than the others?
Self-awareness of our yellow lights (where we should proceed with caution) helps us to be the people we want to be. Being aware of these areas of our life allows us to build healthy relationships, avoid harsh self-criticism, and live into greater love for ourselves and others.
Give yourself extra compassion around these areas. Everyone has areas of caution. Awareness of these helps us be the best version of ourselves. And when we are living as the best version of ourselves, we bring out the best in others around us.
Sending you a big hug,
