Jottings on Marcus 4

Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet you do not use it. . . . 

—from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.4 

The fashionable pundits, the gurus of success, are right to tell me how the Universe will always give me exactly what I need, though they are sadly mistaken about what is necessary to my nature. 

I complain when I don't get the job, or I fail to win back her affections, or I receive derision instead of praise. But those things were never needed. 

In each case, I had the chance to practice humility, or to offer love without condition, or to be constant in my convictions. Those things were always needed. 

Be less like Oprah. Be more like Marcus. 

IMAGE: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, A Hermit Praying (1663)