Stoic Sunday

Hurting yourself is easy, living is hard.

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone — those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the ‘what’ is in constant flux, the ‘why’ has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of the past and future gapes before us — a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation either. As if the things that irritate us lasted. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Nothing lasts. It’s an important sentiment to take in. We want the good times to continue, and the bad ones to disappear. However, both leave us, even the ones that we want to stay.

Understanding that everything is in flux diminishes the need for self-importance. The idea of who we were and who we are going to be changes with the same tune of the waves that hit the shoreline because all tides are never quite the same.

Whatever past misfortunes you’ve had, or whatever wrong deeds you’ve experienced, you have to let them go, so you can live right now.

It was easy to hurt ourselves from things that had happened to us in the past. It’s hard to acknowledge the misfortunes, and move on and live.