Do You Have A "Light Secret"?

I recently read this post  from Rob Walker in “The Art of Noticing”.  Please click HERE to go to his Substack column.  I recommend his weekly posts!

DO YOU HAVE A LIGHT SECRET? from Rob Walker Substack

Recently I read a great, strange, entertaining short story, “Light Secrets,”¹by Joseph O’Neill. I read fiction for fun, not in order to find TAoN-friendly ideas. But the notion of the “light secret” jumped out as a delightful, and I think useful, concept. So I’m sharing it with you here. 

Here’s how it comes up in the story (for our purposes, context and character details can be set aside): 

P. says, “Everybody’s got something to hide. Everybody.” He wears his usual gloomy face. With no lessening of the gloom, he says, “But you know what else is true? Everybody’s done something good that’s hidden—the opposite of a dark secret.”

“A light secret,” I suggest.

“Precisely,” P. says.

“Like an anonymous donation?”

P. shrugs. “It could be a lot more interesting than that.”...

This also reminds me (Penny) of the idea of a “bright Shadow”.  This happens when we are extraordinarily attracted to someone – not physically, but emotionally.  We admire them.  We admire all that they do and how they are in the world.  They seem so special, so talented, so gracious etc.etc.  Sometimes, it is possible that this person is representing to you, something of yourself that you don’t quite “own”.  It could be a characteristic or trait that you greatly admire.  And perhaps the reason you admire it, is because you long to have that trait yourself and on some level you know that you do have it – and this other person is showing that to you. 

So I pose the  question to you – do you have someone who is a “bright shadow” for you?  Do you have a “light secret”.  Time to let those things loose into the world!!