Hello and welcome.
My name is Silas Day,
And today we will be looking at some of the words and wisdom of Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus Aurelius was the Roman emperor from 161 CE to 180 CE.
While not a perfect ruler,
He was better than most Rome had seen,
And in his spare time kept a journal,
Which was later transcribed and put together in a collection called Meditations.
Marcus Aurelius' thoughts and reflections reach across the ages,
And form the bedrock of how one can approach life in a pragmatic,
Positive,
And disciplined manner.
Through these thoughts he is known as one of the fathers of a form of thought and philosophy called Stoicism.
I myself have a love for Marcus Aurelius,
As his words and wisdom have helped me time and time again in life.
Here I bring you some of his quotes and lessons that he wrote down in that journal,
Which inspired me,
And I hope can help and inspire you.
It is my hope as well that you meditate on some of these phrases and allow them to sink into your marrow,
So that you may know them fully and completely in your own way.
You have power over your mind,
Not outside events.
Realize this and you will find strength.
A person's true delight is to do the things we were made for.
Loss is nothing else but change,
And change is nature's delight.
Very little is needed to make a happy life.
It is all within yourself and in your way of thinking.
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.
The happiness of life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
Everything we hear is an opinion,
Not a fact.
Everything we see is a perspective,
Not the truth.
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.
It is not death that a man should fear,
But he should fear never beginning to live.
You have power over your mind,
Not outside events.
Realize this and you will find strength.
The impediments to action advances action.
What stands in the way becomes the way.
Begin each day by telling yourself,
Today I shall be meeting with interference,
Ingratitude,
Insolence,
Disloyalty,
Ill-will,
And selfishness,
All of them due to the offender's ignorance of what is good or evil.
Think of yourself as dead.
You have lived your life.
Now take what's left and live it properly.
What does not transmit light creates its own darkness.
Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought,
For the human spirit is colored by such impressions.
Dwell on the beauty of life.
Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good person should be and be one.
Accept the things to which fate binds you,
And love the people with whom fate brings you together,
And try to do so with all of your heart.
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right,
I will happily change.
For I seek the truth by which no one was ever truly harmed.
It is the person who continues in their self-deception and ignorance who is truly harmed.
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it?
Do not act as if you were going to live 10,
000 years.
Death hangs over you while you live.
While it is in your power,
Be good.
Live a good life.
If there are gods and they are just,
Then they will not care how devout you have been,
But will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.
If there are gods but unjust,
Then you should not want to worship them.
If there are no gods,
Then you will be gone,
But you will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Death smiles at us all.
All we can do is smile back.
This is some of the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius from his meditations.
I highly recommend you checking this out if you found these thoughts helpful or interesting,
As I know they helped me in times of trouble.
As well,
If you enjoyed this content,
Please let me know and I will happily make more,
As it is an area of great interest to me.
I hope you enjoyed this and have a wonderful day.
