During a recent coaching session with one of my clients, I asked her what colours she could now picture on the blank canvas we used as a ‘distinction’ when starting her coaching programme. She told me about the splashes of vibrant colours and then also mentioned the smudges of black and other somber colours. She appeared to be seeing these ‘in a negative light’. This prompted an exploration of the importance of black and I thus introduced her to one of my favourite poems:
What is Black?
Black is the night, where there isn’t a star
and you can’t tell by looking, where you are
Black is a pale of paving tar
Black is jet
and things you’d like to forget
Black is a smoke stack, a cat
a leopard, a raven, a high silk hat
The sound of black is boom, boom, boom
echoing in an empty room
Black is kind, it covers up
the broken pavement and the broken cup
Black is charcoal and patio grill
the soot spots on the window sill
Black is a feeling, hard to explain
like suffering, but without the pain
Black is liquorice and patent leather shoes
Black is the print in the news
Black is beauty in its deepest form
the darkest cloud in the thunder storm
Think of what starlight and lamplight would lack,
diamonds and fireflies if they couldn’t lean against black
Mary O’Neil
Black is important. Look at how vibrant this beautiful Mandala is against a black background! The colours appear brighter. Just as my client at first was thinking of the black or somber smudges on her canvas as being negative, characteristics that we perceive as negative often ‘open up’ exciting possibilities. And the opposite is also true. Positive characteristics ‘open up’ opportunities, but they have the inherent potential to ‘close down’ other abilities. So being aware of the potential of both positive and negative characteristics to ‘open up’ or ‘close down’ possibilities helps us to turn our ‘stumbling blocks’ into ‘stepping stones’.
For more information on Executive Coaching using an Integral approach, please contact Brenda on brenda@146.66.90.172 or +27 82 4993311.
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