Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Marcus Aurelius, concentrate every minute on doing what's in front of you. You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. The present is all we have to live in or to lose. Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself, am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?
Let each thing you would do, say, or intend be like that of a dying person. The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts. Today, I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it because it was within me, in my own perceptions, not outside. You have to assemble your life yourself, action by action. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
The best revenge is not to be like your enemy. You can also commit injustice by doing nothing. Receive without pride. Let go without attachment. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits. It never ceases to amaze me. We all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own. It's unfortunate that this has happened.
No, it's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed. If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it. You always own the option of having no opinion. Ask yourself at every moment, is this necessary? If something is humanly possible, it's attainable by you too. Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly. Someone despises me.
That's their problem. Everything is born from change. You have power over your mind, not outside events. When jarred unavoidably by circumstance, revert at once to yourself and don't lose the rhythm more than you can help. You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do, say, and think. Our life is what our thoughts make it. If you don't have a consistent goal in life, you can't live it in a consistent way.
Get back up when you fail. Celebrate behaving like a human. Limit yourself to the present. The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say, or think, or do only what you do. Don't you see how much you have to offer? And yet, you still settle for less. Mastery of reading and writing requires a master. The struggle is great, the task divine. To gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.
Don't be all about business.
Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own. Practice even what seems impossible. There is never any need to get worked up about things you can't control. People exist for one another. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.