“What’s left to be prized? This, I think–to limit our action or inaction to only what’s in keeping with the needs of our own preparation…it’s what the exertions of education and teaching are all about–here is the thing to be prized! If you hold this firmly, you’ll stop trying to get yourself all the other things…If you don’t , you won’t be free, self-sufficient, or liberated from passion, but necessarily full of envy, jealousy, and suspicion for any who have the power to take them, and you’ll plot against those who do have what you prize…But by having some self-respect for your own mind and prizing it, you will please yourself and be in better harmony with your fellow human beings, and more in tune with the gods–praising everything they have set in order and allotted you.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.16.2b-4a
Inspired by The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Enjoy the things that bring you happiness, and don’t worry about trying to obtain things just to “keep up with the Joneses.” People who are truly happy know that happiness comes from within. It once again comes down to control. If you want something just because somebody else has it, then essentially that person has control over you. Just take inventory of yourself, and see what makes you happy.
