Check Yourself

Grandpa dropped his glasses once in a pot of dye,
And when he put them on again he saw a purple sky.
Purple birds were rising up from a purple hill,
Men were grinding purple cider at a purple mill.
Purple Adeline was playing with a purple doll,
Little purple dragonflies were crawling up the wall.
And at the supper table he got crazy as a loon,
From eating purple apple dumplings with a purple spoon.

(Leroy F. Jackson)

It does not happen often but when it does, I try not to act surprised. 

"Why do you wear glasses?" The answer is simple: so I can see. Without them, the world is a blur. 

"Why don't you wear contacts?" Because I wear tri-focals AND my glasses are treated as such that, when in the sun, the lenses darken, protecting my eyes from the glare. 

"Don't they bother you?" No. I forget they are there. 

In some ways, our thoughts are like grandpa's glasses. We view the world through a set of lenses, assuming everything has taken on a certain hue because we've forgotten they were there. We are used to seeing things a certain way. When negative thoughts, upsetting thoughts come to mind, they "color our world" and everything seems to change when the only change has been to our perception. 

Imagine you are watching a football game. One team scores--how do you feel? Was it your team that made the goal or the other team? Perspective is everything. The reality is this: a team scored and I am neither happy nor am I sad. But if I root for one team, if I view the game through a kind of "lens" then I see the game differently--and feel a certain way about it too. 

I received some news the other day and my initial response was indignation. I was angry. But something wasn't right. Although the news was not good, I had to stop and distance myself from the feeling to discover what was really going on. I'm still processing the news, but at least I'm aware that perhaps I've dropped my glasses into a pot of dye.

"Make it, therefore, your study at the very outset to say to every harsh external impression, 'You are an external impression and not at all what you appear to be.' After that examine it and test it by these rules which you have, the first and most important of which is this: Whether the impression has to do with the things which are under our control, or with those which are not under our control; and, if it has to do with some one of the things not under our control, have ready to hand the answer, "It is nothing to me." (Epictetus, Enchiridion Chapter 1)