August 6th: There is always more room to maneuver than you think
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties — hard times can be softened, tight squeezes widened, and heavy loads made lighter for those who can apply the right pressure. — Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 10.4b
June 12th: A trained mind is better than any script
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, "Tell me what to do!" What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, "Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance"... In this way, if circumstances take you off script... you won't be deperate for a new prompting. —Epictetus, Discourses, 2.2.20b-1;24b-25a
Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
As you gain more and more access to your nature, you will also spontaneously receive creative thoughts because the field of pure potentiality is also the field of infinite creativity and pure knowledge. Franz Kafka, the Austrian philosopher and poet, once said,
"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting on your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll ecstasy at your feet."
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
At this moment you aren't on a journey, but wandering about being driven from place to place, even though what you seek — to live well — is found in all places more full of confusion than the Forum? Yet even there you can live at peace, if needed. — Seneca, Moral Letters, 28.5b-6a
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Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
You must stop blaming God, and not blame any person. You must completely control your desire and shift your avoidance to what lies within your reasoned choice. You must no longer feel anger, resentment, envy, or regret.— Epictetus, Discourses, 3.22.13
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you laughing stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on the floors of their shops. Yet while those shopkeepers have dustbins for disposal, Nature has no need of them. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.50
