Meditations - BookReview

We’ve long deviated from this concept. To us, logic has become a much more mathematical concept.

1+1 = 2. That’s logic to us. But when a close family member unexpectedly dies , we don’t think that’s logical. It doesn’t ...

The word logic as we use it today originally stems from ancient Greek. The word “logos” means “reason” and to the stoics, it was the force of life.

Logos gives everything its form and its order. It flows through every plant, every tree, every building and every human being. It is th...

1. True “logic” doesn’t always make sense, but everything happens for a reason.
2. Life is too short to complain.
3. The only pain you suffer is the pain you create yourself.

Excited about stoicism? Let’s begin your training, young philosopher!

Being an emperor in ancient Rome was a dangerous job. People tried to kill you, abduct you, stab you in the back and poison you at least once a week.

Marcus Aurelius believed that physical pain was part of logos’s big plan as well. He also suffered a lot of psychological pain in his lifeti...

Meditations by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was probably never meant to be published, but in 1558 someone at Heidelberg University in Germany decided...

Opposite to the Epicureans, who sought as much pleasure as they could in the here and now, for tomorrow they could die, the Stoics believed in the goodness of things, no matter how bad they were at any given time.

If everything is exactly right the way it is, complaining becomes utterly useless then , doesn’t it?

There’s a saying I like:

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

You could’ve spent those 60 seconds laugh...

But he was convinced that all these things happen for good reason, trusted in the purpose, and thus remained calm even in the worst of times. After all, these deaths were external events that Marcus Aurelius had no hand in whatsoever.

He believed that any harm done to a person from...

You never know how long you have. No one knows. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow, or never even wake up the next day. Your time on earth is limited. Incredibly limited. So don’t waste it.

Marcus Aurelius hated holding court, but he knew he shouldn’t spend even a second regretting his dut...

Complaining wastes your time and makes everyone that has to listen to it feel bad. So how about making it today’s mission to stop complaining?

"Put an end once for all to this discussion of what a good man should be, and be one."

-Marcus Aurelius

Things are exactly right as they are, which includes terrible things like terrorism, death and disease just as much as it includes wonderful things like rainbows, sunny days and long, fulfilled lives.

Whatever pain you’re facing, you have a choice. You can accept it and move on without complaining. Always.

So don’t make yourself suffer, it’s really all in your head.