Reveal Your True Colors

It is Autumn in New England, my favorite time of the year. I love the cooler days, the season’s foods and the colors. For a very short time, vast landscapes of green turn vibrant shades of yellow, orange and red as the trees anticipate Winter and the leaves prepare to fall. We always say that the leaves are “changing” colors, but in reality, they are shedding their green. At night, the sugars made by the highly abundant green chlorophyll in the leaves normally travel into the tree, but as the cool weather arrives, this process is slowed so sugar production ends and the chlorophyll begins to break down. The disappearance of so much green actually reveals the beautiful colors that were there all along. And in the presence of bright sunshine, the sugars that remain in the leaves also helps to intensify them.

It sounds a lot like people. Afraid to stand out and be different, we play it safe by being green and blending in. What we don’t realize is that our greatest gifts to the World are revealed when we strip away the green - when we remove the mask of conformity. This is also when our lives become the most colorful and creative. This is when we are the most authentic, when our lives take on the most significance and when we are the most fulfilled. This is when we feel the most alive and when we most inspire others. And the more we remove the green, the brighter we become.

Every one of us has something to offer that makes us unique and special. Just think how much more colorful the World would be if we were all courageous enough to share it. Yet, so many people wait for the Autumn of their lives to shed their green and some never let their brilliance see the light of day. And that is a loss for all mankind. So for the sake of humanity and in the words of Cyndi Lauper: “don't be afraid to let them show; your true colors, true colors are beautiful like a rainbow.”