Lessons from Lasso — Numbing the Dark, Numbs the Light

Today, we get into Episode 7, Season 1 and Lesson 49 in our Lessons from Lasso series. The scene fixates on Coach Lasso as he downs a couple of whiskies from the mini-bar in an effort to anesthetize himself from the emotional pain of taking the final steps in signing divorce papers — an ultimate sign of divorce. Lasso isn’t the only one in the episode who is numbing the dark parts of his soul — others use language, sex, and a whole host of other means to “cover” the deep pain that they feel. Today, in this Lesson from Lasso, I reference a phrase written by contemporary therapist and author, Brené Brown. In her book, Gifts of Imperfection, she writes of her research and her own story that we cannot selectively choose which emotions to dull. When we dull the painful ones, we also dull the good ones. Brown comes to the conclusion that spirituality and connection are imperative for healing and resilience. I go one further and offer some language from the Apostle Peter that might help us in seeing how our faith might help us with our painful, dark emotions. Ted Lasso, the immensely popular streaming TV show is about to being its third season on Apple TV+ features the antics and quirky, Coach ‘Ted Lasso.’ Lasso first appeared a number of years ago as a comedic character as NBC purchased the broadcast rights to the English Premier League. Played by Jason Sudeikis, Lasso (as a coach) brings change to the difficult football (soccer) team that he has traveled overseas to coach. In the ‘Lessons from Lasso’ series, I (Rev Brad) look at some of the different life learning points brought up in the show from a chaplain’s point of view. From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer). Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.