May 4 • The Forum
Meditations In May (5/4/26)
2.5. Concentrate every minute like a Roman-like a man—on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distrac-tions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you.
It’s funny how Marcus was dealing with distractions thousands of years ago. Without smartphones, emails etc. sure he was emperor and had many obligations but I’m sure he had plenty of moments throughout the day for silence. Whereas in modern times any moment of silence, of boredom we have the ability to distract ourselves. The pernicious element here is that not only is it our devices, but most likely what Marcus is talking about here, is it’s our wandering thoughts.
Marcus is pretty clear in the passage if we can clear ourselves of our judgements, our aimlessness, our wild swings in emotion then we can be present in every moment. So today I ask you can you work to not reach for your phone in moments of boredom? Can you notice when your thoughts wander, and come back to the present? Can you focus on each task at hand today?
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Meditations In May (5/4/26)
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