Would it be shady of me to start this black, white, & gray post with this?
Would it be shady to share a definition of the all-too-human tendency for black-and-white thinking and a suggested antidote to that common cognitive distortion?
Black-and-White thinking.
Things are either all good or all bad, people are either perfect or failures, something new will either fix everything or be worthless. There is no middle ground; we place people and situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of gray, or allowing for complexities. Watch out for absolute words like “always”, “never,” “totally,” etc. as indications of this kind of distortion.Thinking in Shades of Gray. Instead of thinking in all-or-nothing terms, evaluate a situation on a scale of 0 to 100. Instead of absolute words like “never”, “always,” and “completely,” substitute modulated words like “seldom”, “often,” or “somewhat.” Consider the concept of “good enough” (e.g., “I am doing a good enough job at this”).
Yesterday, during (and after) a conference on innovation in medical practice, I looked for shades of gray among the blacks and whites.
It’s good to be open to color, too.
What are your gray, black, white, and colorful thoughts about an appropriately shady song for this post?
You can find Haim performing Simon & Garfunkel’s “Hazy Shade of Winter” in shades of gray, here.
If you leave a black-and-white comment below, it will be read all over by me.
Thanks to all who helped me create this shadily good enough post and to you — of course! — for all the shades you see here, today.