Over 2000 years ago, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his personal thoughts and reflections
in a private journal. This journal was never meant to be published or shared with anyone
else. Years later, Aurelius’ letters and thoughts to himself were released to the public
as a book known as Meditations. Meditations not only acts as a cornerstone to influence
modern stoic philosophy, but also gives us mere mortals a glimpse into the mind of the
most powerful man in the world at one point in time.
But what stuck out most to me were broad mentions of what his daily morning routine was, and
so...me being me, I thought I’d try it and see what I could learn from it.
To start, Marcus Aurelius was not always a morning person and found that he lingered
in bed every morning. All of us have days like that, but what he did in order to force
himself to get out of bed each day was use a few mental techniques to help him get on
his way. One of the things he would tell himself was
- “At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself - I have to go to
work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was
born for - The things I was brought into the world to do. Or is this what I was created
for? To huddle under the blankets to stay warm?”
Part of what he does is talk about how even though it’s nicer in bed, whether we were
simply born to feel nice or move towards what our nature demands and meet our quota of the
work we need to do. Sometimes, what we all need is a little bit
of perspective that we should always work on things that we love. As he says, “People
who love what they do, wear themselves down doing it. When one is really possessed by
what one does, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their
arts.” And that’s just a little bit of motivation
to help get started with the day. Because we could always use a little bit of a reminder
to pursue things that we love in order to drive us out of bed each morning.
Now, in order not to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of tasks that he would face on any
day, Aurelius dedicated a certain amount of time each day specifically for reflection
and gratitude. Every morning, he reminded himself of how
lucky he was to be alive and expressed gratitude just to be able to breathe, think, enjoy life,
and to love. By doing this, I found that I was able to
shift how I view my day. Each day becomes an opportunity for you to improve and build
yourself. And if that isn’t enough, your privilege of being able to experience new
things and love someone or something continues for a whole day more. Now, while there are
always obstacles in life that we may not be able to impact, like financial hurdles, health
issues or even a raging pandemic, we can always attempt to start the day with optimism through
gratitude for the chance to be alive and try to make a change one more time.
Marcus Aureliius would also dedicate a fixed amount of time each morning to journal. He
would spend a few minutes with the blank page, writing down his thoughts, clearing his mind,
reminding himself of what was important. Journaling can sometimes seem daunting to many of us.
When I first did it, I had no idea what to even write down, but if you want to take a
cue from Marcus Aurelius, he talked about his frustrations with and how to forgive them,
he also talked about things that he was tempted by and how to resist them, he humbled himself
by remembering how small we are in the grand scheme of things in the work, and also wrote
to himself to not to let the immense power he could wield corrupt him. This is something
that I have to do too, you know, remind myself that now that the channel has over 2800 subscribers,
I shouldn’t let this immense influence and power corrupt me. Just kidding… or am I?
It’s hinted that Marcus Aurelius tackled his most important tasks first. He didn’t
believe in procrastination and wanted to tackle things when he was full of energy. “Concentrate
on what’s in front of you like a Roman,” he said. “Do it like it’s the last and
most important thing in your life.” These are principles that have been adapted into
several versions over time. One of my favorites is The Ivy Lee Method, which I’ve previously
made a video on. Definitely check that out if you’d like to know more. There’s a
card up top and a link in the description below.
In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius told himself this - “When you wake up in the morning,
tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest,
jealous, and surly.” This quote is not really meant to be pessimistic,
but more of an anticipation of perhaps, the worst that could happen. This is called negative
visualization or Premeditatio Malorum - Negative visualization is actually seen as a way of
preparing for the day ahead. This helps one become better equipped to handle things that
may not go their way and assess how they would handle it. Essentially helping you stay calm
in the face of a storm.
There are plenty of other things that Stoics, including Marcus Aurelius, have done to start
their day such as seeking discomfort early on in the day to build endurance and resilience.
They used to do this by skipping meals and experiencing hunger. I think that this can
be a little extreme. The way that I do this, though, is through the form of cold showers,
which have all sorts of benefits, not to mention laying the groundwork for you stepping outside
your comfort zone throughout the day.
One of the most practical mental exercises each morning actually comes from Seneca the
Younger who said: “We live in the middle of things which have all been destined to
die. Mortal have you been born, to mortals you have given birth. Reckon on everything,
expect everything.” This is known as Memento mori, or remembering
that you are mortal. This mental preparation in the morning will help you focus on the
important things and you be ready to meet difficulties with calmness, resilience, and
patience.It essentially sets the tone of your day to expect everything and be ready for
anything. My recommendation to you, if you’d like
to follow this routine, is to be open to modifying it to yourself and what works for you. Each
of us has our own routines that may involve things like meditation or journaling or exercise.
This Stoic morning routine simply serves as a framework to help guide those activities
and help you find your anchor for everything that is yet to come throughout your day. Thanks
for watching. Hope you’re enjoying this Stoicism series of videos. Definitely check
out the rest of the videos in the series right here. Also, leave me a like and subscribe
to the channel for more from me every week. See you next time. Bye bye.