Last Week

This is the book I am following.

Another good read.

I like this one also.

Working on this book currently.

Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.

Jan 22

“I will keep constant watch over myself and—most usefully—will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil—that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 83.2

It is easy to look ahead to what I plan on doing in the future. It is much harder to give an honest review of the past. I look back and see the times I was unnecessarily angry at my wife because I had a headache. Will this stop me from repeating this? No, but if I am aware of it it will cut down the number of times I repeat it. That will help to make a better future.

 

Jan 23

“Let’s pass over to the really rich—how often the occasions they look just like the poor! When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their
entourage. And those who are in the army, how few of their possessions they get to keep . . .”
—SENECA, ON CONSOLATION TO HELVIA, 12. 1.b–2

Being fairly well off has benefits but it also has limits. This passage is a reminder of that. If I had to leave in a hurry, what do I own that’s really necessary?

 

Jan 24

“From Rusticus . . . I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 1.7.3

 

I try to get past the initial basic reporting on most stories. It’s difficult when it seems most stories are slanted or leave out crucial details. I have an internal problem where I have to be right. I don’t mean whatever I say is right, but I cannot deal with internal double think. Sometimes if I jump too soon, it’s easy to get it wrong. Hence, the 48 hour rule.

 

Jan 25

“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

 

It is important to have self respect -not self esteem-. How do I develop self respect? By making the correct choices and living in a way that meshes with those choices. If I live the wrong way, it’s easy to feel sorry for myself and let bad choices snowball. If I don’t control the things I can, I will look to things I can’t control and pour my energy into those. That will cause more stress than anything the world throws at me, if I don’t understand the difference.

 

Jan 26

“Erase the false impressions from your mind by constantly saying to yourself, I have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire or any kind of disturbance—instead, seeing the true nature of things, I will give them only their due. Always remember this power that nature gave you.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.29

 

I try to remind myself that I have the power to decide what I do and how I react. At work when the proggie ladies are spewing the latest Dem talking points, there is no positive to arguing with them and getting myself pissed off. There are a couple people I do talk to about things, , but they are honest enough to actually talk and not just fall into mindless bumper sticker slogans.

 

Jan 27

“There are three areas in which the person who would be wise and good must be trained. The first has to do with desires and aversions—that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into what repels them. The second has to do with impulses to act and not to act—and more broadly, with duty—that a person may act deliberately for good reasons and not carelessly. The third has to do with freedom from deception and composure and the whole area of judgment, the assent our mind gives to its perceptions. Of these areas, the chief and most urgent is the first which has to do with the passions, for strong emotions arise only when we fail in our desires and aversions.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.2.1–3a

If I don’t know what I desire, it will be easy for me to it will be easy to do things counter productive. I desire to have a happy life with my wife, so it’s important to do things that work for both of us. It’s important to me that I live with honor and not be an idiot that cheats on his wife or drinks to the point where it affects my life the next day. I also try really hard not to lie to myself and remember that I am the easiest person I can fool. I struggle with composure, this morning, I was a little late, the computer didn’t want to come up so I could double check the location of the ship I was inspecting, I had to double back because I forgot my ID, and as I was driving I was fuming. I had to remind myself that anger wasn’t helping and was able to calm down. A few years ago, I would have been pissed the whole drive and forced myself to calm down for work and then been pissed again driving home.

 

Jan 28

“Take a good hard look at people’s ruling principle, especially of the wise, what they run away from and what they seek out.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.38

 

It’s good to have examples to learn from. I learned from my step dad that if you want someone to respect you, you have to be honest. Counterpoint, what I learned from my dad is if you want to end up bitter and alone, treat your wife like shit and blame the divorce on her without taking any responsibility.

It’s Helloween!

It’s amazing how good they still sound.