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In his meditations, Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five good emperors of Rome, offers us several insights on how to keep calm and carry on with our lives.
By following the next five principles, you can learn to stop worrying and stay calm in difficult times.
Principle 1.
Focus on the present moment.
In his meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, Forget everything else.
Keep hold of this alone and remember it.
Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.
The rest has been lived already or is impossible to see.
The past is unchangeable and the future is uncertain.
But what is certain is the present moment.
What you do today will determine the results you get tomorrow.
So don't worry too much about the past or the future.
If you made a mistake in the past, the only place you can learn from it and correct it is now, in the present.
If you're worried about how your future will turn out, the only place you can make sure it turns out for the better is now, in the present.
So focus on doing what's in front of you to the best of your ability, and by doing so you can worry less and remain calm.
Principle 2.
Expect and prepare for the worst.
In his meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself, the people I deal with today will be meddling ungrateful arrogant dishonest, jealous and surly.
When you wake up each morning imagine, visualize and expect that the worst is already going to happen.
Play it out in your head.
Feel it deeply and prepare your body for it.
Then determine how you can deal with that scenario using tact, grace, and intelligence.
If you are mentally and physically prepared for the worst of all possible scenarios that you can face, it's much easier to stay calm and act effectively.
Principle 3
Your honor is the only thing that truly matters.
In his meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character.
Otherwise, it cannot harm you inside or out.
According to Marcus, the only thing that truly matters in life is your honor.
If you believe that and recognize that living honorably is always within your control, you will always be able to remain calm under any circumstances.
But if you don't believe that honor is the only thing that truly matters, if you place value on external circumstances and things that you can't control, you will always be worried.
You will always be worried about things not going your way and you will worry about what people think of you.
A truly stoic mind believes that honor is the only thing that really matters, and they understand that living honorably is always under their control.
And so, no matter what their external circumstances are, they are able to remain calm and carry on.
Principle 4.
Don't overvalue the opinion of others.
In meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people, unless it affects the common good.
It will keep you from doing anything useful.
The more value you place on the opinions of others, the more you will be worried about what they think of you.
And you will never be calm unless they think good things about you.
But here's the problem.
You can never please everyone.
Pleasing one group of people usually means displeasing another group of people.
So the more you try to please everyone, the more you will displease everyone by being perceived as inconsistent.
And the more you value what people think of you, the more worry and pain their bad perception of you is going to cause.
But if you remain consistent in your personality and only value the opinion of those who you view as honorable, you'll be better able to remain calm when some people don't like you.
Principle 5.
Realize that everything is impermanent.
In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone, those that are now and those to come.
It would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress or any indignation either, as if the things that irritate us lasted.
Everything is impermanent.
The world is in constant flux, change and flow.
What you feel today will be gone tomorrow.
Think about all of the good times that you had in the past.
Those are gone now.
Now think about all of the bad times that you had in the past too.
Those are gone as well.
You survived every single one of them.
Realize that everything is impermanent, even the negative aspects of life.
They will pass and when you realize that, you will find that it is easier to endure, overcome and stay calmer in difficult times.
So these are the five principles we went over today based on meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
One, focus on the present moment.
Two, expect and prepare for the worst.
Three, your honor is the only thing that truly matters.
Four, don't overvalue the opinion of others.
Five, realize that everything is impermanent.
And by following these five principles, you can worry less and stay calm in difficult times.
This was just my interpretation of Marcus Aurelius' work, and if you're interested in hearing more of my interpretations on his work, check out my last video called Marcus Aurelius How to Build Self-Discipline.
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As always, thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.
