Lesson #3 from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Eliminate the Inessential. Most of what we do is not essential. Most of it is instinctual or it was foisted on us by someone else. Most of it isn’t actually working for us. We might be better and happier if we changed. We might have more tranquility if we did less, as Marcus said. This is the 3rd video in the @dailystoic series where Ryan Holiday breaks down applicable life lessons from his years of reading and studying Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Follow @dailystoic to make sure you don’t miss one of the powerful lessons. #dailystoic#stoicism#marcusaurelius#philosophy#meditations#lifelessons#improvement
I’m a lucky guy. I live in Michigan in an unincorporated area called Lake Michigan Beach. Days like yesterday make me think I’m really blessed to be here! Come and sit with me on this bench and we’ll count the waves together…
The survey says “the vast majority of respondents agree that the number one quality that makes a man worth marrying is his ability to communicate, followed closely by honesty and reliability.”
Ryan Holiday says “One thing that stands out from Seneca is that he is one of the most enjoyable and readable of all ancient philosophers. Part of it was due to the fact that his most notable works came in the form of letters. Two of the most popular include On the Shortness of Life and Letters from a Stoic.”
“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind—for things have no natural power to shape our judgments.” MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.52
Meditation, Emotional Healing, and Spiritual Awakening from Tara Brach, PhD – Psychologist, Author, and Meditation Teacher. Source: The RAIN of Forgiveness – Tara Brach
I’ll never be as good as David Kanigan — the student has become the master. His ‘Cove Island Park’ series is unbeatable! In any case, I try to get down to Hagar Shore park to watch the sunset as often as I can. Today was a ‘no line on the horizon’ day where I really couldn’t tell where the lake ended and the horizon began.
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice— though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do— determined to save the only life you could save.
Bright, shiny objects! 
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