Chapter seven
OVERCOMING TENDENCIES THAT DAMPEN LIGHT
During the afternoon, the sun shines on cloudless skies. However, there are times when clouds form so that even when its afternoon and the sun is shining, the clouds do not allow the rays come through them.
In our homes some years back, before the advent of modern rechargeable lamps, we made use of lanterns which had glass shields around. We often cleaned the glass shields every evening to ensure black dust doesn’t form on it. If the glass shield has dust on it, the light becomes dim.
As much as we have light in our talents and skills which we are doing all we can to make it shine, there is still a tendency that the light we are trying to shine may be dampened by some other means other than ourselves.
Like washing the glass shields every evening, we have to work hard against dampening effects that seek to dampen your light. The fact is, as much as your light is shining, not everyone likes to see the light shine.
You need to be on the lookout for those dust, those people around you, who stand as friends, acquaintance or relatives who tell you that what you have has no value. They try to talk you and your talents down because they are jealous you are making headway or they think that you shouldn’t be the one going far. You have to learn to wash those dust off. Get those persons out of your life and put them in their place.
Sometimes, light shines from the lantern very bright light but it may hit opaque objects that stop the light from reaching farther than it can reach. These opaque objects are the hindrances and encumbrances that stand before us on the road as we shine our light. These may not be close persons or acquaintances but they are situations such as lack of money, the right contacts, habits or some none personal hitches.
Whitney Houston was an immense singing talent whose light was shining. At some point in her career the world knew she was an extraordinary talent but along the way, when the light of her talent was shining so bright, she got involved with drugs and ended up at the psychiatric hospital. By the time she got through it and struggled to revive her light, she died on her rescue mission.
A similar fate happened to Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson and a host of other superstars who were hit as their star shone. They met with opaque objects that proved too big for them to push off and they died trying to get over them.
Too many times, it’s not because we haven’t worked hard at shining our light that we don’t shine as far as we have planned to shine. It’s just that some things happen along the way that we never planned for. We sometimes opened our minds to the wrong advice from the wrong people and chose to take a diversion from that original path we were trading.
It hurts that at the time when we are doing great things, that’s when we fall prey to the things that try to stop us from achieving. The truth is, that time when we are doing great is just the time when we should be most watchful and careful.
There is a tendency to overdrive because we think we have a brand-new vehicle of immense value, our talent is hitting the waves and everyone thinks we are doing great. There is the temptation to allow pride get into our heads and we begin to feel bigger than who we really are.
Sometimes, it may be because we are trying to prove that our talent is worth more than people think it is so we try to play to the gallery of the people, those we call fans. Fans are great, but fans change their taste. They could make you go gaga over their nice words but soon find another port to port their high taste even when you are not doing badly which could easily dampen your thinking faculty and your desire to keep your light shining.
How would one explain the reason for a musician using drugs who had no idea about it? The musician found himself drowned in the ecstasy that he thought he just had to perform in the highest capacity to satisfy his always unsatisfied crowd. He gets advice from a friend who tells him taking drugs could help dampen the effect of the depression of knowing that the crowd always wants more than he could ever deliver.
The tendencies that dampen light may not be caused by ourselves. We often have a personal tendency to develop our light using all the means we can. These tendencies arrive from outside the source of the light. Once one is able to make the light shine and keep the light, the challenge of allowing the rays go as far becomes what raises concern. Just as clouds are not decided by the sun but arise because the sun is shining on the water, so also the things that try to dampen your talent and light comes sometimes because your talent is beginning to make some impact somewhere.
The choice however to make your light shine is dependent on you. When the clouds go over the sky, the sun doesn’t stop shining. The sun continues to shine and soon the clouds condense to form rain which does allow the sky the clearness for the sun to continue shining.
When storms, winds, and mountains try to stop you from radiating your light, you just have to keep at it anyway. Keep shining.