Lessons From the Stoics: How to Change Your Life - According to Marcus Aurelius

4 quotes to change your perspective on life

If you hadn’t already guessed by the title, I’m a major fan of Marcus Aurelius.

If you know him, you probably find him insufferable as he’s been peddled by philosophers, politicians, and those insufferable productivity merchants as essential.

If you haven’t come across Aurelius, or any of the other the family of philosophers that comprise the Stoics, you’re missing out — the productivity merchants make a good point.

Stoicism is an action-oriented philosophy that purports that happiness is found in the acceptance of the present, emotional resilience is key to navigation of life, and the only thing under our control is our mind and perspective.

Pretty neat, right? One of the major contributors to the Stoic philosophy was Marcus Aurelius, a former Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.

Author of the world-famous ‘The Meditations’, Aurelius shares his insights and beliefs about the world — beliefs I believe are key to helping you change your life’s perspective.

1. “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

A beautiful fact of life is the control we have over our minds and perspective.

The human mind is as expansive as it is powerful — we get to decide how we see, think, and consider the things that occur to us. As difficult as it is to do this, your superpower comes from your capacity to decide how you live your life and orchestrate the things that happen to you, into a coherent narrative.

Perhaps it’s time to stop letting the negative words of your colleagues deter you from pursuing a business. Perhaps it’s time to shake off the trauma of parental abuse and decide to be the person in your family to campaign against domestic violence. Perhaps it’s time to stop letting outside events dictate your emotions and feelings, and dictate your feelings and emotions according to your fundamental beliefs. Your entire life will change when you realize that it isn’t just events that shape your life — but the very way you receive these events that color your being.

2. “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

It’s good to question.

In the age of social media, mass data surveillance, and unyielding competition for power — don’t be quick to accept any one thing as a source of truth. Even the most ‘objective’ facts are perspectives under a certain set of circumstances.

Now, I’m not suggesting you start your career in peddling conspiracy theories online, or go underground and join a resistance group of some sort. What Aurelius encourages here is a healthy amount of skepticism and critical thinking that will save you a lot of earaches later down the line. You must learn to challenge not just the content you engage with, but the source, to come to reasoned judgments on what you decide to believe.

3. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

The stoics were the original anti-materialists.

The sprawling house. The sparkling marriage. The millions of dollars in the bank. By all means, aspire to these things. But don’t let your happiness rely entirely on how close you are in life to achieve these things.

Happiness is an active choice — it is a state of being, not something to be pursued. It is choosing to feel pleased and contented with what you have right now.

What are you neglecting to be happy about in the pursuit of materialism? Are you neglecting to play with your child for the third time in a row because you just have to get in that work project? Have you not remembered to say ‘I love you’ to your partner because you’re so wrapped up in your to-do list? Maybe you refuse to have that slice of birthday cake yet again because you have 10 lbs left to lose and nothing will stop you?

How about you decide to do something radical, and be happy on the way? How about instead of pinning all your happiness on a destination, you take pleasure in the journey? The journey could well span the length of your life — choose to be happy now.

4. “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. ”

Don’t ever let your future scare you.

Have faith in yourself and your capacity to reason. You’ve made it this far — that certainly means something. It means you’ll be able to contend with your future when it comes because guess what — it’s coming. Tomorrow is coming, and if you’re blessed enough to see it, remember to be blessed enough to receive it.

So what if your dream feels far away? You’re working on it now. Someday, your side hustle is going to pan out into something huge. Someday, you’re going to be able to do more than 3 pushups in a row. Someday, you’ll attract someone who knows your worth and treats you with the love and kindness you respect.

And you know why? It’ll happen someday because the same version of yourself preparing for these things today, will surely greet them in the future.

Marcus Aurelius had some good stuff to share, it seems. Sometimes it’s not a matter of changing our position, but adjusting our perspective. What perspective do you cling to? How far are you letting it dictate your emotions, your actions, your mental wellbeing? How can you regain control of your superpower — your perspective — and transform your life?

Perhaps it’s time you learned a thing or two from Aurelius and his Stoic friends.