Tuesday

January 8

WHY should I grieve myself; who never did willingly grieve any other! One thing rejoiceth one, and another thing another. As for me, this is my joy; if my understanding be right and sound, as neither averse from any man, nor refusing any of those things, which as a man I am subject unto; if I can look upon all things in the world meekly and kindly; accept all things, and carry myself towards everything according to the true worth of the thing itself.

MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book viii. 41.

WHEN one consulted him, how he might persuade his brother to forbear treating him ill: Philosophy, answered Epictetus, doth not promise to procure anything external to man, otherwise it would admit something beyond its proper subject-matter. For the subject-matter of a carpenter is wood; of a statuary, brass: and so of the art of living, the subject-matter is each person's own life.

EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book i. §15. ¶1.
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  1. PamelaJanuary 8, 2010 at 7:21 AM

    I need to accept the way things are or change them. I cannot just sit railing against the darkness without getting up to turn on a light. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I cannot control another's actions BUT I can control how I react to their actions. I will react decisively and unemotionaly (as much as possible) but I will begin to take my life back.

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