Your life is what your thoughts make it. Marcus Aurelius
Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius had some of his greatest insights about life while he was away from the palace and out on military campaigns. He would always stay up just late enough to reflect on the lessons of the day. Every night he'd ask: "What have I learned today?" And he’d write down the answer. Marcus seemed to believe that if you and I live life with eyes wide open, we can learn something every day. He also believed that if we don't write it down, we'll likely forget it. So he made notes on life. Sometimes just a sentence, sometimes a paragraph. Those notes went on to become one of the best selling books in all of history, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, a book I recommend to everyone.
I think it’s metaphorically true of all of us that, like the emperor, we learn the most on the battlefields of life, out in the world struggling to accomplish something worthwhile. If more of us would adopt his habit of ending the day with a meditative reflection on what we've learned from what we've experienced, we’d all be much better philosophers and wiser adventurers in life.
In my own opinion, this wise man's greatest message for us now is simple: What's most important in life is not so much what happens to us, but how we think about what happens to us. Our inner attitudes and thoughts are ultimately most crucial for the development of our careers in this world. With the right thoughts, we can thrive and accomplish amazing things, even in the midst of trouble and challenge.
How are you thinking about your own life now? Your life is indeed in so many ways what your thoughts make it. So, see to it that you make it as great as it can be, starting from inside your own heart and mind. That's the royal path to better living. Today.
