How to Stay Grounded and Move Forward | Marcus Aurelius
Reflection ✏️
I was wondering what a good first stoic blog post would be.
I knew I wanted something related to the stoic virtue of Courage. Something to motivate and intrigue others to embark on this journey. Just as I did a while back, and I thought you might profit from it, too.
So, as fate would have it I clicked through a couple of quotes for inspiration and stumbled across this one.
Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses. — Marcus Aurelius
This one is such a heavy hitter and touches on some really good concepts that make a virtuous stoic.
Marcus Aurelius was, of course, reflecting on his death and what he would leave behind if he were to depart right in that moment.
This practice is a core practice in Stoicism and is called Memento Mori — remember your mortality. I use it every day to check myself if I am still on the path I want to be on, if I am being the person I want others to recognize in me.
This requires us to be present, in the moment, to be aware and mindful of who we are. It demands of us to be 100% honest with ourselves. This can be a hard task for me, especially if I am not walking the talk in that moment. But it is necessary for me to be strict with myself to be the person I want to be. It is necessary to have the Courage to take an honest look at yourself.
This quote teaches us that there is no yesterday and no tomorrow. Just now. Just what we are doing right this moment. The past is forever gone and the future is eternally unreachable. What we make of it is what happens in this instance.
I need to check myself and be wise about how I invest my time, as well as temperate. I could engage in totally hedonistic behavior, only do things I love, and have the best time ever right now. However, that might not get me where I would like to be in the mid- to long-term.
I need to pay things forward, live the best life I can — for me and for the ones I care about. I want to be satisfied with the person I truly am and not just dream about who I’d like to be.
That will require constant work, growth, and development. It won’t be fun all day — but it will pay off much sooner than later.
Learning 💡
Everything that matters is right now.
Not what has been, not what might become.
What is, and what you make of it, is what you need to focus on.
Memento Mori — be the person you want others to remember you as
Interested in Stoicism? Check out beststoicquotes.com
