Turn obstacles into stepping stones
Daily Wisdom — Day 4
First in The Morning: 365 Uplifting Moments to Start the Day Consciously
We are not strangers, outsiders. We are part of existence. This is our home. We are not here accidentally; we are here because we are needed. We are here because existence wanted us to be here in the first place. It is the will of existence. Hence nobody need feel alienated. That is one of the most fundamental problems that humanity is facing today. All over the world intelligent people are very worried, disturbed, anxious, asking: “Why are we here?”
According to science, it seems accidental that we are here, and if we are accidental then we are useless; then whether we are, or are not, makes no difference. If it makes no difference, then our life loses all meaning: hence all over the world there is a climate of meaninglessness. It all started a hundred years ago with the declaration by Nietzsche that God is dead. He became the mouthpiece of the whole contemporary mind.
If God is dead, then life is meaningless because God is the only possibility of there being any meaning, any significance.God simply means nothing but meaning. Life is meaningful — that’s the whole meaning of God.
The Pivot Year: 365 Days to Become the Person You Truly Want to Be
Self-protection is learning how to take a pause between what you feel and how you react. When there is no awareness between what you perceive and the way that you respond, anything can control you. Practice the pause. Widen the space between what you sense and what you do about it. Decide what’s worth your energy, because what you engage with is what you empower.
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
THE BIG THREE
“All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.” — MARCUS AURELIUS
Perception, Action, Will. Those are the three overlapping but critical disciplines of Stoicism (as well as the organization of this book and yearlong journey you’ve just begun). There’s more to the philosophy certainly — and we could spend all day talking about the unique beliefs of the various Stoics: “This is what Heraclitus thought . . .” “Zeno is from Citium, a city in Cyprus, and he believed . . .” But would such facts really help you day to day? What clarity does trivia provide?
Instead, the following little reminder sums up the three most essential parts of Stoic philosophy worth carrying with you every day, into every decision:
Control your perceptions.
Direct your actions properly.
Willingly accept what’s outside your control.
That’s all we need to do.
The Daily Laws: 366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery, Strategy and Human Nature
It Is Already within You
Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this something as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I’ve got to have. This is who I am. — James Hillman
As you become more sophisticated, you often lose touch with these signals from your primal core. They can be buried beneath all of the other subjects you have studied. Your power and future can depend on reconnecting with this core and returning to your origins. You must dig for signs of such inclinations in your earliest years. Look for its traces in visceral reactions to something simple; a desire to repeat an activity that you never tired of; a subject that stimulated an unusual degree of curiosity; feelings of power attached to particular actions. It is already there within you. You have nothing to create; you merely need to dig and refine what has been buried inside of you all along. If you reconnect with this core at any age, some element of that primitive attraction will spark back to life, indicating a path that can ultimately become your Life’s Task.
Daily Law: Ask someone who recalls your childhood what they remember about your interests. Get reacquainted with those early passions.
Mastery, I: Discover Your Calling — The Life’s Task
Robert Greene. The Daily Laws 366 Meditations (p. 22). Edición de Kindle.
A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul
Even if we don’t want to, we can’t help but feel our connection to the rest of mankind: we are connected by industry, by trade, by art, by knowledge, and most importantly, by our common mortality.
Kind people help each other even without noticing that they are doing so, and evil people act against each other on purpose. — CHINESE PROVERB
Every person has his burden. One cannot live without the support of other people; therefore we have to support each other with consolation, advice, and mutual warnings. — From the BOOK OF DIVINE THOUGHTS
All the children of Adam are members of the same body. When one member suffers, all the others suffer as well. If you are indifferent to the sufferings of others, you do not deserve to be called a man. — MUSLIH-UD-DIN SAADI
The history of mankind is the movement of humanity toward greater and greater unification.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Reflection
Moon above water.
Sit in solitude.
If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.
There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves. True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still. Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. In the same way, meditation will be natural and immediate.
The Daily Dad
Show Them How to Keep Their Cool
In 1952, Margaret Thatcher’s father was driven out of office when a rival political party won a majority in the election. He was upset. He was hurt. And he could have allowed those emotions to drive how he reacted. But he didn’t.
Instead, Thatcher’s father made a statement of incredible restraint and dignity: “It is now almost nine years since I took up these robes in honor, and now I trust in honor they are laid down.” He added later, “Although I have toppled over I have fallen on my feet. My own feeling is that I was content to be in and I am content to be out.”
We could say that what he was doing was showing his daughter how to lose with grace. But it was much more than that. He was showing her that external circumstances don’t define us, only how we respond to them. He was showing her how to bear adversity and how to never surrender your poise or self-control. These would all be lessons that Thatcher would use throughout her tumultuous life as a public servant, a prime minister, and a mother.
Your kids will need them too. So show them. Show by example, not just with words. Show them, when you’ve been screwed over and it really hurts, that still your personal code of conduct matters more. Because it does. Because it will.
