A Beautiful Mind

Do you struggle to get out of bed each morning? I know you do, so keep reading :) you are not alone.

 I am a great admirer of Marcus Aurelius for the simple fact that he was transparent. He was an emperor of Rome, and though he did not want to be, turned out to be one of the greatest of the five emperors who were actually good. He was also a philosopher, and as a part of his regular practice, he kept a journal where we can see how he worked to be the better man. 

When he wrote, he didn’t intend to be read by anyone else, much less published. He wrote for himself, to himself. Most of what he wrote might be comparable to sticky note reminders to himself. And he did not hold back in his thoughts. He did not write to vent, but to address what he needed to change in himself. Here’s a sample of a conversation he had with himself, Emperor to Emperor, about getting up in the morning (Book 5, “Meditations”):

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work—as a human being. . . Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’

‘But it’s nicer here.…’

So you were born to feel “nice”? . . . we have to sleep sometime.… Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.”

How can you not admire a man like that?