Idleness And The Soul

St. Benedict of Nursia said that "Idleness is the enemy of the soul."

The reason idleness is the enemy of the soul is that without work or activity that engages the spirit, mind and body in a meaningful way, we become lazy and allow ourselves to fall prey to various vices.

I notice this to be the case in a few areas in my life.  For example, if I have more than a week off work I start to get itchy and antsy, looking for something to do.  And often times, instead of using this time to do something productive like staining a fence or touch-up paint the wall or put on that second coat of paint on the coffee table, I end up lying on the couch, lazying around, bored out of my mind.

Another example is in the winter time when I'm not as active as in the summer; same thing, unless I have a disciplined, directed activity, such as reading a chapter of a book or the Bible, or instead of praying,  I end up sleeping the afternoon away.

Spiritually speaking, idleness leads my mind into a destructive frame.  I start thinking negatively about just about everything: life, relationships, work, you name it.  Life loses meaning, hours bleed into days, and days into weeks of numbing no-sense existence.

St. Benedict's solution, as I've already alluded to, is to "be employed in manual labour at certain times, at others, in devout readings."

Winter's coming, and along with that, usually a certain kind of apathy and idleness.  Shorter days.  Darkness.  Cold weather.  Discomfort.

Hybernation has its pluses, like sleeping in on weekends, or watching a film on the couch, but if inattentive to the needs of the soul, winter can be weeks and weeks of paralyzing idleness.

How will I keep disciplined this winter?