Some of my favorites from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations (Gregory Hays translation).<\/p>\n
\n\n\nAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: \u201cI have to go to work\u2014as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I\u2019m going to do what I was born for\u2014the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?\u201d \u2014But it\u2019s nicer here.\u2026 So you were born to feel \u201cnice\u201d? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don\u2019t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you\u2019re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren\u2019t you running to do what your nature demands?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n\n\n\nNot to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren\u2019t packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human\u2014however imperfectly\u2014and fully embrace the pursuit that you\u2019ve embarked<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\nTo watch the courses of the stars as if you revolved with them. To keep constantly in mind how the elements alter into one another. Thoughts like this wash off the mud of life below.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\nEverything that happens is either endurable or not. If it\u2019s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it\u2019s unendurable\u00a0\u2026\u00a0then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest, or in your nature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\nThe Pythagoreans tell us to look at the stars at daybreak. To remind ourselves how they complete the tasks assigned them\u2014always the same tasks, the same way. And their order, purity, nakedness. Stars wear no concealment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\nIt\u2019s quite possible to be a good man without anyone realizing it. Remember that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of my favorites from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations (Gregory Hays translation). At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: \u201cI have to go to work\u2014as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I\u2019m going to do what I was born for\u2014the things I was brought into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sartor-resartus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}