Stop Painting Red Flags Green

My mind’s capacity to rationalize just about anything

My best friend came up with this saying during one of our “epics”, a walk and talk sessions sometimes lasting a couple of hours depending on our musings.

The saying has stuck with me since, and it is curious to me why we sometimes will overlook the obvious “red flag” warnings and ignore it altogether or mute the warning by rationalizing it away. Why do humans have such a poor track record at learning from our mistakes, often repeating the mistake over and over and not learning the intended lesson. With our “superior” intelligence, why do I continue to make idiotic mistakes???

I will give myself credit, I am getting better at learning when the “red flags” are popping up and mindfully noticing what is happening in my body when these flags become present and my intuition is barking at me. So now I am in a place where I am able than to take a step back and laugh at myself when I can see myself picking up the green paintbrush and motioning to change the red flags. Ultimately I know I am better off paying attention to these early warning signs and avoiding the mess and the painful life lessons that typically result from these misguided choices, but it is not always easy to do.

For me, the hardest thing I grapple with is my willingness to give a person the benefit of…