"This is your wake-up call! You may not have even realized you were sleep-walking. Most of us are most of the time. Awareness is an eye-opener. It's Anthony de Mello telling you gently but firmly, 'It's time to get up now.'" --Charles Osgood of "CBS Sunday Morning" and "The Osgood File"
"Awareness will be the critical test of American business in the next decade. I call it the 'business of awareness.'" --F.X. Maguire, Hearth Communications Group
There was a certain Millionaire, who haht his Offices on the Second Floor of the First National Bank Buildinng. And when he goeth up to his Office he rideth in the Elevator, but when he goeth down, the he walketh.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
It is said that if you would have peace of mind, busy yourself a little. But wouldn't a better saying be do what you must and as required of a rational being created for public life? For this brings not only the peace of mind of doing few things, but the greater peace of doing them well. Since the vast majority of our words and actions are unnecessary, corralling them will create an abundance of leisure and tranquility. As a result, we shouldn't forget at each moment to ask, is this one of the unnecessary things? But we must corral not only unnecessary actions but unnecessary thoughts , too, so needless acts don't tag along after them. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.24
March 21st: The best retreat is in here, not out there
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, or in the mountains. You are very much in a habit of yearning for those same things. But this is entirely the trait of a base person, when you can, at any moment, find such a retreat in yourself. For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and less busy retreat than in your own soul- especially if on close inspection it is filled with ease, which I say is nothing more than being well- ordered. Treat yourself often to this retreat and be renewed —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations,4.3.1
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
The greatest portion of peace of mind is doing nothing wrong. Those who lack self- control live disoriented and disturbed lives. ~Seneca, Moral Letters, 105.7
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Here's a lesson to test your mind's mettle: take part of a week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food, dress scantly in shabby clothes, and ask yourself if this is really the worst that you feared. It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead, for when Fortune is kind the soul can build defenses against her ravages. So it is that soldiers practice maneuvers in peacetime, erecting bunkers with no enemies in sight and exhausting themselves under no attack so that when it comes they won't grow tired. — Seneca, Moral Letters, 18.5-6
