Your mind is dyed by what you think about most.
Where this comes from
Marcus Aurelius compared the mind to cloth soaking in dye: it takes on the color of whatever you think about most. He wrote it in his private notebook about 1,850 years ago, as a reason to choose his thoughts with care.
How you could say it to a five-year-old
“You used blue the most, so your page looks blue. Thoughts can work like that too.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.16. We put these lines into plain English ourselves, staying close to the original and to public-domain translations.
The story behind this line
The book behind this lineThe Calm EmperorMore on big feelings
Some things are up to us, and others are not.
It isn’t what happens that upsets us, but what we think about it.
Wish for things to be as they are, and life flows easily.
We are troubled more often by what we imagine than by what is real.
Everything has two handles.
What Marcus Aurelius told himself, for your 5-year-oldReady for the whole story?The Calm EmperorWant the next one?
We’ll email you when new free coloring pages and printables are ready. Nothing else.