Speed Up or Slow Down

Yellow traffic lights have a different meaning depending on who you ask.

Some people see a yellow traffic light and speed up, while others — seeing the exact same yellow traffic light — slow down.

Sometimes the meaning changes depending on the situation.

The stories we tell ourselves and the pictures we paint in our heads color the world. Our perspective frames how we experience the environment.

We think the world is somewhere “out there.”

But everything we experience — every color we see, every smell we smell — happens inside our animal brain.

The world is inside of you.

Meaning is created by participation.

The yellow traffic light by itself doesn’t mean anything. The yellow traffic light is yellow because there is a brain to experience, interpret, and define the color we call yellow.

Our brain is the great squishy label maker.

A yellow traffic light really can be two different things at the same time.

And that’s ok.

The next time you want to change the world, stop, take a deep breath, and figure out how to shift your perspective.

Perspective matters.

Participation matters.

Stand up.

And participate.