Meditations
Marcus Aurelius wrote the book Meditations and not many people are familiar with this book. Marcus who? Man, you must have been sleeping during history class. Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor so basically one of the most powerful men that lived in that day and age. He was also a military leader and scholar. This guy was the real deal and he still is actually. I’ve read this book five times and I still learned new things the fifth time. The book will give you insight into your current situations. It’s still useful even after thousands of years.
The book Marcus Aurelius his diary and it wasn’t his intention to make it public. He wrote down some life lessons that he wanted to remember and somehow it turned into a book. Lucky for us because this is the most powerful self- development book there is. You can describe this book in one sentence: the best of every self- development book combined. I have this book on my computer (Dutch version), iPhone (English version) and a physical copy. I carry it with me everywhere I go.
There’s also a great lesson here. You can write a best seller by “accidentally” leaving your diary somewhere behind.
Mediations is all about stoicism
Man, I never understood philosophy in college, I even hated it. Now I’m writing about it. The irony is real in this post.
You can’t explain stoicism in a few sentences but I’ll try my best to make it as comprehensive as possible.
Our feelings are based on our thoughts according to stoicism. Stoicism also claims that nothing happens by accident in the universe, everything is connected. Maybe it’s a bit like karma but less mainstream these days. Nobody gets the true meaning behind karma so I doubt that they would understand or even know what stoicism is.
This book turns you into a better person IF you’re willing to reflect on your current life and/or past life.
Meditations will make you appreciate the good things in life
I can give you tons of examples but I’ll share some of the harshest parts of my life to make sure that you get the point. Most people take everything for granted in life and that’s not the right attitude. Many people think that walking is one of the most normal things in life but it isn’t.
I had a knee injury for 2 years. I had pain with every step that I took. It was stairway to hell instead of stairway to heaven when I had to do one. I had to put ice on my knees the day after going to a party. I was so grateful when I finally could walk without pain again. The weird part was that I even went running just because I was so happy (I hate running).
So I faced a heavy depression but now I’m happy again and I cherish it. I learned to appreciate happiness more than ever.
I had a damn bad relationship but I know I’ll be a lot happier in the next one.
At one time I had some bad friends who weren’t loyal but now I appreciate the loyal ones.
Mediations will even make you rethink your thoughts about rain
Some people get up, open the curtains, see rain and they just do one thing. They complain and bitch about it the whole damn day.
I’ve had a conversation with a girl who was claiming that her whole day was ruined once she saw rain, snow… just bad weather in general I guess. The sun can’t shine every day, how weird would that be.
Just get out of your bed and accept the fact that it can rain. Rain will make you appreciate the sunshine even more. Rain can be a metaphor for all the bad things in life.
Besides, there’s a lot more oxygen in the air when it rains. So why would you complain about it? Oh, I remember why the whole day is ruined when it rains. Who needs more oxygen anyway?!
Tons of people turn into complete assholes or bitches when they see one raindrop. Those people tend to give me strange looks when I’m whistling in the rain. The normal people are far from fun people.
I’ve never heard someone complaining about the fact that they’ve taken a shower. It’s the same. You just like the shower because it doesn’t take you out of your comfort zone.
Guess what, life is all about getting out of your precious comfort zone.
Meditations will make you think about life more than once
Most people don’t realize that we’re all walking dead. Say what now? Face it we are all going to die. Nobody is immortal. You, your friends, your family, your loved ones…. they are all going to die whether you like it or not. So how do you want to leave this earth?
Are you making sure that you’re going to be remembered in a good way or are you going to leave earth just like 99% of the people? 99% of the people leave planet earth as the lying dead.
Those people pass away and are forgotten soon enough. This is sad but that’s how life goes. Most people pass away unnoticed since most family members just want heritage.
The walking dead their spirits are broken by the rain and all the other bad stuff that has happened to them. Yes, you’ll have to face failure but you can learn how to deal with it. A person will only break when his/her spirit has been broken.
Cherish the quality time with your loved ones before it’s too late.
This makes you think about the meaning of life, doesn’t it? I wrote a whole post about the meaning of life to be sure to check it out.
Mediations will make you face your problems
We all want to escape our problems but we’re doing it completely wrong (yes I was once like that as well). Everybody wants to go on fancy trips to a foreign country just to forget about their problems.
We all consume tons of alcohol or even drugs to escape our dragging everyday lives. Face it, that’s just the way it is. Not many people realize that you need to have inner peace before you’re able to be completely happy.
This makes it a lot easier to relax when times get harsh. An empty head is a fun place to be. Most people can’t stand the thought of being alone because that’s when you start thinking. That’s when you’ll have to face all of your inner demons. Loneliness is a painful boomerang for those people.
Marcus had a nice quote about it: “The things you think about determining the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”
So happy wife equals happy life could be right but a happy mind equals a happy soul. You can’t make your partner happy if you aren’t happy. It’s confrontational I know but the truth always hurts.
Mediations will turn you into a better person
“A branch cut away from the branch beside it is simultaneously cut away from the whole tree. So too a human being separated from another is cut loose from the whole community. The branch is cut off by someone else. But people cut themselves off—through hatred, through rejection—and don’t realize that they’re cutting themselves off from the whole civic enterprise… We can reattach ourselves and become once more components of the whole. But if the rupture is too often repeated, it makes the severed part hard to reconnect and to restore. You can see the difference between the branch that’s been there since the beginning, remaining on the tree and growing with it, and the one that’s been cut off and grafted back.” Marcus Aurelius
You can’t like everybody and not everyone can like you. There will always be hate and jealousy towards you. Just learn to deal with these people and accept them for who they are. I have to hang around with people who called my story bullshit.
I have to live with people with the fact that people just ignore me since I stopped drinking alcohol. You’ve read it correctly, to some people I’m dead now because I don’t drink anymore.
I stopped and I’m never drinking it again just because I have inner peace. That makes this no- alcohol part so easy. I don’t need the distractions because I’m completely happy.
I’ll always be friendly to these people even after all the hate or the fact that they’ve dropped me. I’ve never been mad at a cat for not being able to bark so why would I be mad at someone for being who he/she is (at that time)?
Meditations will give you more time to do other things
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” Marcus Aurelius
I like this quote since it’s simple and the truth. Guys are constantly arguing about how a gentleman should act but they are the most women unfriendly guys there are.
The world is doomed according to the majority of people.
Why would the world be doomed? The world is like a beautiful garden and sometimes there will be a weed in the garden but why would you focus on the small bad things? Trim the weeds from your mind and restore the garden in its beauty. Turn yourself into a better person and turn the world into a better place.
Your tweets about all the misery in the world won’t make a change. Action leads to a reaction, tweeting or posting it on Facebook leads to nothing.
So don’t be a social media zombie and act as you should.
Arguing about small things is a waste of time just like watching the news. I’ve never seen a person in a happy state of mind after they’ve watched or heard the news. They all claim that I’m the dumb guy who’s ignorant. Real men don’t watch the news and society don’t like it.
Meditations are not that hard to understand.
You need to learn to accept the less pleasant things to be able to enjoy the good things. That’s one of the reasons why rich parents are a curse. Rich kids have and get everything they want but they rarely face adversity (some of them do). They can’t appreciate the good things because they haven’t faced the bad ones. This results in constant dumb behavior, alcohol or drugs.
Meditations teaches you that crying doesn’t help
So many people cry when bad things happen to them but face it, it doesn’t solve anything. Accept the bad things and keep on moving forward. People are going to hurt you, they’ll use you, it will rain outside… Accept the fact that it is good and bad in this world. It’s like yin and yang, you need them both to survive.
You will never grow as a person if you can’t accept this. You will never be able to move forward. That’s how you become and remain a part of the real-life walking dead. You have the power to react to bad situations as you want.
Meditations is all about taking control of life. It will learn you that you can feel how you want to feel no matter how bad the circumstances are.
You can never control your outside circumstances but ask yourself the following question:
Are you really in charge of your life if your emotions control you?
Food for thought isn’t it?!
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That’s all ladies and gentlemen
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Till next time
Alex
