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Daily Touch of Inspirations
April 29th: Washing away the dust of life
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Watch the stars in their courses and imagine yourself running alongside them. Think constantly on the changes of elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life. ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.47
There are three areas in which the person who would be wise and good must be trained. The first has to do with desires and aversions- that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into what repels them. The second has to do with impulses to act and not to act- and more broadly, with duty- that a person may act deliberately for good reasons and not carelessly. The third has to do with freedom from deception and composure and the whole area of judgment, the assent our mind gives to its perceptions. Of these areas, the chief and most urgent is the first which has to do with passions, for strong emotions arise only when we fail in our desires and aversions.
—Epictetus, Discourses, 3.2.1-3a
www.myINSPIRATIONALquotes.net
The more we understand our own minds, the more we understand everyone else. We increasingly feel the commonality of our human condition, of what creates suffering and how we can be free. Our practice also benefits others through the transformation of how we are in the world. If we’re more accepting, more peaceful, less judgmental, less selfish, then the whole world is that much more loving and peaceful, that much less judgmental and selfish. Our mind-body is a vibrating, resonating energy system. Of necessity, how we are affects everyone around us. On a boat in the middle of a great storm, one wise, calm person can bring everyone to safety. The world is like that boat, tossed by the storms of greed and hatred and fear. Can we be one of those people who help to keep it safe?
— Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening —
Daily Touch of Inspirations
June 11th: Just don't make things worse
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
How much more harmful are the consequences that aroused them in us! —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.18,8
The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil?
Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own...
— Epictetus, Discourses, 2.5.4– 5 —