Recently, my dear friend shared a photo of “The Weight of Thoughts”, Bronze Sculpture by the Belgian artist Thomas LeRooy. The word “Thoughts” and the “big head” caught my eye.
Why are people talking about this sculpture?
How are “thoughts” and “Gratitude” linked?
Look at what has happened since LeRooy created this work of art around 2008.
Thomas LeRooy, when planning for his 2009 Braindance exhibition, discovered he could not plan this work… he felt such a fight between his head and body when thinking about his ideas, he ended up creating four sculptures, big and heavy, to express what he felt inside, his “Thoughts”. Those sculptures (big heads) continue to take on new meanings by people as they view the art. People discuss the WEIGHT of thinking. Why?
It is difficult to define or explain “What are thoughts?” and “Where do Thoughts Occur?”
The answers to these questions are relevant to GRATITUDE . Fields of Embodied Cognition and Cognitive Psychology discuss the thinking process in the brain, in the body, through sensory and physical experiences, and so forth.
In my opinion, experiences leading to descriptions of GRATITUDE also are derived from physical experiences, sensory events, through connected thoughts, and out of body experiences.
The WEIGHT of posting about “gratitude” is hard, as gratitude is not the same for everyone. Within this blog, #gratitudesquared.com, the reader will find there are three levels of gratitude: #gratitudezero, #gratitudelite, and #gratitudeultra, defined in an earlier post.
This topical essay (the Weight of Thoughts: Grateful Thoughts) falls under the #gratitudeultra category, and leads to HEAVY THINKING as well.
Why is this sculpture a pivotal image for gratitude readers?
- Because along your journey to gratitude you may find you will go deeper and deeper into exploring how gratitude impacts your life with very meaningful and positive outcomes. Spend some timing thinking about your journey thus far. List meaningful outcomes you have experienced.
- You may also discover, as did LeRooy, that your capacity to describe your gratitude feels limited by your own words, or by what you will feel inside. Take a moment to try to describe, What exactly is gratitude to you? Give several examples of your own gratitude.
- You may only discover a particular image, captured through a snapped photo, or an emotion expressed through a particular song or poem can adequately express a profound moment of gratitude. I have found recently that my gratitude best comes through the music I hear from my distant past I shared with my parents years ago. Why I am returning to old songs I have not heard for years, I do not know, but when I am full of joy or feeling exceptionally blessed, I go to music lately. What do you do emotionally that you can not accurately describe to others in words and how do you capture such? Do you choose an art form? If so, which one?
It is not uncommon to hear lectures talking about the mind, body, and soul experiences with regard to healing, as but one pathway to gratitude. There is a rich literature on these topics, beyond the scope of this post, but healing is more than just treating one’s body, isn’t it? It includes a State of Mind, and a Belief System, plus the medicine. Often when people think about their own illness, they describe it through expressions of gratitude.
The WEIGHT OF THOUGHTS sculpture, by LeRooy, stimulates conversation regarding our minds (thoughts), our bodies (with regard to illness, healing, and health for example), and souls (with regard to how we connect to other human beings as well as to God).
Thoughts are connected to gratitude: I see no other pathway. I hope you will continue to set aside some time to THINK about your own Gratitude.
This sculpture indeed seems to promote WEIGHTY THINKING. One of the readers within Facebook or Twitter noted that thinking about this sculpture gave him a headache or made him feel like his head was aching because it was growing so much larger than his body from so much thinking.
When looking for a description of this art form on Goggle it stated:
The Weight of thought by Thomas LeRooy depicts how everyone feels-a mind bogged down by its own thoughts. How our thoughts can weigh us down, eh? If only we become aware of how our thoughts. If only we could detach ourselves from our minds.
Feb. 17, 2021 Google
I imagine this is what LeRooy felt when trying to plan his work.
What do you think?
#gratitudeultra
Gratitude Squared 