Wouldn't it be nice to blame it all on the others? It would be at least damn convenient, but who is it that can really hurt us? The society, family, priests, police or politicians? The envious neighbours? The people you have to deal with at work? These and many more can cause you hindrance on [...]
Tag: Marcus Aurelius
Sooner than you’d like
Soon you will have forgotten all things: soon all things will have forgotten you. - Marcus Aurelius In the story of your country or your culture, your time is short and that oblivion comes soon. In the vast timescale of the planet Earth or the Universe, it is even shorter. This means that the only [...]
Be anxious!
"I have only one anxiety: that I myself should not do something which the human constitution does not intend - or does not intend in this way or at this time.” - Marcus Aurelius Ask yourself all the time: "does this come from good intentions and is this helpful". Keep a constant tension [...]
Do not resist change
Is someone afraid of change? Well, what can ever come to be without change? Or what is dearer or closer to the nature of the Whole than change? Can you yourself take your bath, if the wood that heats it is not changed...Can any of the benefits of life be achieved without change? Do you [...]
Weapons of Reason – you got them!
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. - Marcus Aurelius If you were not born yesterday, you have already been in a pickle, gone around the block once or twice, been bullied by someone, gotten [...]
Stoic Week 2017 – Sunday
Sunday’s theme was resilience. “Be like the headland, on which the waves break constantly, which still stands firm, while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, [...]
Stoic Week 2017 – Wednesday
If you find anything in human life better than justice, truthfulness, self-control, courage… turn to it with all your heart and enjoy the supreme good that you have found… but if you find all other things to be trivial and valueless in comparison with virtue give no room to anything else, since once you turn [...]
Renew yourself – any time you need it!
Men seek retreats for themselves - in the country, by the sea, in the hills - and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophic, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself. No retreat offers someone more quiet and relaxation than [...]
That is all you need
Objective judgement, now at this very moment, Unselfish action, now at this very moment, Willing acceptance, now at this very moment, of all external events. That is all you need. - Marcus Aurelius
Fate Permitting 