Momento Mori

" If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone. " Epictetus The Stoics were known for their wise aphorisms.  Epictetus said things like, " Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants" and " It is unrealistic to expect people to see you as you see yourself." These are valuable lessons, but so serious, dealing with topics of life and behavior. You might read the Stoics and come away thinking they were all so earnest, so sober. " He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at. " Epictetus In reality they had a good sense of humor, but not the kind we often encounter today. They didn't delight in the misfortunes of others. They didn't find humor in seeing others suffer. They teach us that being able to laugh at ourselves, to not take ourselv

“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations So many people spend their lives regretting or fondly remembering the past, or fearing or anticipating the future. This is because we confer reality on both the past and the future. Yet if the past and future existed we should be able to be there now, to travel there, to exist there instead of here. But we can't. We can't because the past and future aren't real. The past no longer exists and the future has yet to exist. Where we exist, where everything is happening, is the present moment.  We can miss so much beauty and love by ignoring the reality of the moment in favor of living in the past or planning for the future.  This moment is literally all that matters. You could die in the next moment. Our memories of the past are often inaccurate. Both past and future exist only in our minds. But this present moment, this is reality. This sec

On the Golden Rule: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” — Jesus “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” — Seneca On getting revenge: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” — Jesus “It is a petty and sorry person who will bite back when he is bitten.” — Seneca On tending to one’s garden: And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” — Jesus “You look at the pimples of others when you yourselves are covered with a mass of sores.” — Seneca On living in the present: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” — Jesus “Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all, - the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.” — Seneca (From The Daily Stoic Newsletter . You should c