10 Stoic Teachings Of Marcus Aurelius

We Desperately Need Today (Practical Stoicism)

Marcus Aurelius was one of the last “good emperors” of Rome —

who genuinely cared for the well-being of his citizens.

He lived in a time where death was prevalent— and chaos was

everywhere. He wrote a manual for himself which we now know as
the “Meditations.” Even though he wrote these words around 2,000
years ago — his insights still carry strong weight today.

Here are some insights of his stoic philosophy we can apply to your
own life and make it meaningful.

1. Ignore what others are doing

Marcus Aurelius says "Do not waste what remains of your life in
speculating about your neighbours. Anything that distracts you from
fidelity to the Ruler within you— means a loss of opportunity for some
other task.”

It means that our time is very limited so Why waste our precious
energy worrying about our neighbours? Why do we care what they
are doing, what they are up to, and what they think of us? We need to
ignore everyone and focus on our task at hand. What is our task?
Whatever is our calling on earth — whether that means creating art,
empowering others, or being a loving parent.

Today with social media, we are addicted to what others are doing.
We waste our mental energy being envious of others and comparing
ourselves to them and hence feel frustrated that we aren’t as
successful as our peers.

In order to stay focused and ignore what others are doing, you need to
take a break from doing anything that concerns others. Uninstall all
social media apps from your phone, and don’t check your Facebook,
Instagram, or any other social media network for an entire week.
This does not mean to ignore your friends and family but this
experiment for a week will help you to devote all your time, energy,
and effort to your own needs. It will make you less envious, jealous
and you will stay focused in your own creative work.

2. Your Reality is Made by your opinions.

Marcus Aurelius tells us: “Life is but what you deem it.” “Life is
opinion.” It means that There is no “objective” reality out there— we
shape our own reality. We shape our own perception of the world
with our thoughts. No external “reality” exists outside of our
perceptions.

The practical way you can apply this mode of thinking in your life is
this: see everything in a positive light.

For example, let’s say that someone talks shit about you to your face.
Rather than feeling frustrated, you can tell yourself: “I’m glad that
someone is talking shit about me, it means that I am not boring — and
doing something interesting.”

Furthermore, when people insult us, try to harm us, or criticize us —

it isn’t the insult which hurts us. It is our interpretation of what they
are saying which hurts us.

If we interpret others’ actions as irrelevant, how can we feel hurt?

Practice it for a week. Interpret every action that happens to you as
positive.

For example, if someone insults you, think to yourself: “How can this
insult make me a stronger person?” See every opportunity as a growth
opportunity.

3. Do less
Marcus Aurelius reminds us the importance of doing less in life— and
cutting out the superfluous actions from his life: "If thou wouldst
know contentment, let they deeds be few,’ said the sage.
“Better still limit them strictly to such as are essential, and to such as
in a social being reason demands, and as it demands.” It means Many
of our actions and words are unnecessary.

By not doing superfluous actions, we will be less stressed. We need to

cut out the unnecessary things in our lives. The less superfluous
actions, words, thoughts, and emotions — the more focus we will
have for what is really important to us in life.

That might be time with your family, time to do your creative work,
or the chance to help others. For a week, always ask yourself: “Is this
superfluous?” whenever making decisions.

You can apply this in many different ways. For examples if you have
social obligations — ask yourself, “Is this social meeting
superfluous?” Learn how to say “no” — and say it as often as you
can.

4. Death is knocking at your door

“Take it that you have died today, and your life’s story is ended; and
henceforward regard what further time may be given you
as an uncovenanted surplus.” Think about all the people who learn
they have cancer or some other disease. Once they discover this, they
drop all the shit they don’t like doing in life — and only focus on
what is important to them.

When we know that death is close, we don’t waste our time. We don’t
waste our precious leisure time watching TV or other forms of passive
entertainment.

We rush into doing what we are passionate about, and work that is
meaningful to us. We spend more time with our loved ones, and omit
superfluous people and actions from our lives. Reminding ourselves
of death gives us focus.
Today, imagine like it were your last day on earth. What would you
do, and what would you not do for your day? What would you tell
your loved ones? Who would you spend time with, and who would
you not spend time with? What creative act would you do? What
would you not do in your day, if you knew today was the last?

Constantly meditate on this — live everyday as if it were your last.

Because one day, it will be.

5. You’re stronger than you think

Whenever someone tries to harm you, think of these words from
Marcus Aurelius: “How lucky I am, that it has left me with no
bitterness; unshaken by the present, and undismayed by the future.

The thing could have happened to anyone, but not everyone would
have emerged not embittered.” It means You’re tougher than you
think. You can’t prevent others from throwing shit at you.

But you can change your interpretation of the situation. If you want to
be a world-class boxer, you will have to fight difficult opponents. You
will get beaten up, break a few bones, bleed, and as a result— you
will get stronger.

Let’s be honest - life is hard and Sometimes to live is an act of

courage. Today, Imagine yourself like the strongest person in the
world.

You’re stronger than others. Whenever others try to harm you,

imagine little arrows trying to pierce your golden armour. You’re a
giant, and others are ants trying to harm you.

Whenever harm comes your way, remind yourself: “Thank God I’m
so strong, this could have broken others, but it hasn’t broken myself.”

6. You are rising for the work of humankind

Marcus Aurelius tells us "A man’s true delight is to do the things he
was made for". What were you designed for? It depends.
What is your gift? It might be your ability to socialize, to make others
feel loved, your skill for reading or writing, your skill for research,
your skill for synthesizing information and data, your skill for making
visual images, your skill for empowering others, your skill for
teaching, or your skill for making the world a more beautiful place.

Discover your gift, and figure out how you can best share it with
others. If you don’t know what your gift is— ask your friends, family,
or your mom.

Think about your gifts as a child, and how you can best use your
personal gift to help those around you.

How can you best empower humankind with your gift? Always
meditate on this, and don’t get distracted.

7. Never complain
Marcus Aurelius says "Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are
there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough" It means why
must we complain?

If there is someone who annoys you — just ignore them.

Unfollow them from social media, or just cut your social ties with
them.

Do you hate your job? Either quit your job, or figure out a way to
make it less painful or miserable.

We often cannot change our external situations in the world — but we

can always change our attitude towards it. Most of us don’t have
much time, energy, or money.

Yet given our limited means, how can we make the best of what we
have? Instead of complaining about life, think of how you can best
use your limited means to do your life’s task.
Let’s say your dream is to start your own business. But you have no
experience, money, or time. How can you turn that into a benefit?

Perhaps you don’t have any dogma holding you back when it comes
to business. Perhaps by not having a lot of money, you can be more
creative to be frugal with your business— and create an economical
business.

Creativity breeds on constraints— so harness your constraints in a

positive way.

8. You Can Live Happy Anywhere

Marcus Aurelius says “Let it be clear to you that the pace of green
fields can always be yours, in this, that or any other spot; and that
nothing is any different here from what it would be either up in the
hills, or down by the sea, or wherever else you will.”

What causes a lot of misery for many of us is our homes, where we

live, and the wish to be somewhere else. We might live in the
suburbs, and wished we lived in the city.

We might live in the city, and prefer living in the countryside. We live
in the country side, we might wish living at the beach. We live at the
beach; we wish we lived on an island. If we lived on an island,
perhaps we might prefer the convenience of living in a suburb.

If you were happy with where you lived and the home you lived in —
and didn’t desire to live elsewhere, or in a bigger or better home, how
much more energy, money, and attention. could you have for better
things in life?

Write a list of the positives of your home, your neighbourhood, or

city. Never think of the negatives. And likewise— think of all the
other places you would prefer to live. Then write the negatives of
living in those other places (the cost of living, traffic, pollution,
distance from family and friends, etc).
And then seek to not complain about your home or where you live.
And dedicate all of your creative energy to doing something
personally-meaningful.

9. Help the common good

Marcus Aurelius says “Avoid all actions that are haphazard or
purposeless; and secondly, let every action aim solely at the common
good.”

It means to be honourable and purposeful human being is to help

others. To help others not as fortunate as us. To share our gift, our
knowledge, and our resources.

Keeps doing good towards others, even though they may hate us. And
once you help others, forget it. Better yet— don’t even be conscious
that you’re helping others.

Marcus Aurelius tells us to have “no consciousness of all of what he

has done, like the vine which produces a cluster of grapes looks for no
more thanks than a horse that has run his race.”

For a week, do good to others, without expecting any praise. The

pleasure of having helped others is good enough.

10. Be grateful of your blessings

Marcus Aurelius says “Do not indulge in dreams of having what you
have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and
then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were
not yours.”

No matter how wealthy or successful we are, we can never get

everything that we want. Happiness isn’t having everything in the
world.

Rather, happiness is being grateful for all the blessings we already

have.
Count your blessings, and then vividly imagine if you didn’t have
those blessings. How much would you crave those blessings if you
didn’t have them?

I hope that you can also integrate some of these lessons into your life,
to give you less suffering, stress, anxiety, and more strength to do
your life’s task — to serve the common good.