Bif! Bam! Boom!

Beyond good and bad

When describing a problem a feeling or a situation in our lives we often revert to the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

That’s really limiting.

That, and we get stuck in all kinds of story details to set up this wonderful diagnosis.

Imagine doing this with your car at a mechanics:

We were driving home from the barn. The back of the van was filled with liquid fertilizer from a manure lagoon. The van started making a terrible sound then we stopped. Not long after that we had to get out. The windows were closed. We couldn’t open them. It was bad.

Any decent mechanic would likely ask you to describe the ‘bad’ sound in a bit more detail.

I’m a huge fan of onomatopoeia. I could imitate a dying car in many ways. As such, I have had many a mechanic look at me funny and say - “So, it was a high, screechy, whine, followed by a thud?”

Well. Perhaps not that specifically but you get the idea.

Now. I’m certain that you, dear reader, have some people in your life that you like to relate to. There’s someone there wh…