Daily Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - #4 (This is a BIGG one)

"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 and stay warm?”

—But it’s nicer here.…

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

—But 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.

You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.

Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?"

- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 5:1

Welcome back to another day with me where I share snippets from the book called "Meditations". Today's quote is the single most inspired thing I happened to read (I would've tattooed it if it weren't too darn long).

Now if you feel confused about above quote, here's some explanation, Meditations book is basically journal kept by MA, everything he thought, he wrote it down, here we can see one of the journaling techniques he used where he is having conversation with his own thoughts and trying figure out the way. It’s a powerful reminder of our responsibility to engage with life and fulfill our roles as human beings.

It’s true that passion can drive us to the point of exhaustion, but that’s the beauty of doing what we love. 💚

Stay Awesome! 

- Kabir