Monday, September 23, 2013

Do you "green screen" your life?

Weather man with side monitor.
Modern TV and movie screen technology is a visual wonder to see.  The green screen has changed television and movies forever.  No longer is there a need to create real back drops that take months to build. Now all you need is a big green sheet and you can act like you're in a whole other world.  Computer generated images now fill in the green screen with any and everything imaginable.  One of the more common uses of this technology is your local weatherman.  A weatherman can stand in front of a green sheet and with the help of a monitor off to the side the weatherman can point to imaginary images of radar and such on the sheet.  The technology is called Chroma-Keying and is actually a fairly simple concept.  The only thing that hampers the process is the shadow of the real person and that can be controlled even lighting of the actors.  It makes for a great presentation and stunning movies.

It seems that some people have the ability to green screen their lives.  Instead of taking the time to invest in people that become the back drop of their lives they would prefer to live in front of a green screen.  If someone doesn't see things in the same light as us, then we can just push them away and hide behind our green screen.  Don't want to face the truths in your life?  No biggie, just stare at the green screen and the truth will fade from memory. After all, avoidance is such a problem solver.  Don't want to face the person you've done wrong?  That's okay, we'll just create a computer image in his place.  It's an easy pattern to fall into.  We drive to work alone, then do our jobs alone in a cubicle.  With so little personal contact it's easy to live in a fantasy world. But even with the ability to create our own dream world we are still not happy.  Why is that?  Much like the issue plaguing Chroma-Keying, we can't seem to get away from our greatest nemesis, our own shadow. Even with controlling all the external variables in our lives we are unhappy because we don't want to change the one constant in our lives, ourselves.

A life free of self imposed barriers.
Hiding from others, the truth, and the real world doesn't solve our issues.  We must face all these things or we will become a slave to avoiding them.  And most importantly we must face the man in the mirror.  You can wrap a green sheet around yourself but it won't change what's on the inside.  Have the courage to face the truth, others, the real world, and yourself.  It will set you free from the green sheet prison you've created. You will be able to see the beauty of this world and it's people only if you remove all the self imposed deception you've created yourself.  Be bold enough to live free of lies, deception, and fantasy.  The rewards might just surprise you.


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