“The soul is dyed with the color of its leisure thoughts.” – Dean Inge
We aren’t talking about leisure as in recreation. We are talking about those thoughts that don’t have a specific purpose. They aren’t about getting dinner ready or talking to the boss or planning the wedding or funeral. They are about the thoughts that happen in between. The non-directed thoughts. What are your thoughts at those moments?
Some examples:
When you meander over the arch of your life, do you think about how you have been cheated or unfairly treated? Or do you look at the blessings, the unfairnesses that bent in your favor?
When you realize you have to go to the store at the last minute, do you think about how you have an opportunity to show encouragement or kindness to someone you haven’t even met (a bagger, a person who can’t reach a top shelf) or do you only think about the hassle of it all?
When you are fretting about your future, do you pity yourself and think how helpless you are? Are your thoughts based on fear? Or are they about what new, exciting things that may come to you, EVEN if it includes downsizing, moving, selling, changing, sacrificing. Are you thinking that even what you suffer might be of crucial importance for you?
Now, obviously, none of us spend our thought life thinking only the pollyanna-esque, ‘ain’t life grand even if I live in a dump’ type thoughts, and we shouldn’t. But we should evaluate what part of our thought life we feed and what part we starve. Are we LOOKING at EVERYTHING that happens, are we thinking about the ENTIRETY of it, or mostly the negative.
If you aren’t thinking about all of it, then you are using a limited palette in dying your soul. You are using the mud colors, the dirt colors, the garbage colors, instead of ALL the colors.
Whether your soul is dyed, influenced, infused, tainted, painted or gilded, what you think becomes who you are.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com