Wk27 - Calm Is Contagious
Quote of the Week
“If the things do not come to you, the pursuits and avoidances of which disturb you, still in a manner you go to them. Let then your judgment about them be at rest, and they will remain quiet, and you will not be seen either pursuing or avoiding.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.11
Weekly Theme
This week’s study is about calm, poise and preparation under pressure.
Marcus Aurelius reminds us that many of the things that disturb us do not actually come to us. We go to them. We pursue them in our thoughts. We avoid them in fear. We rehearse conversations that have not happened. We imagine outcomes that may never come. We give power to outside events by attaching judgment to them before they arrive.
When judgment is at rest, the mind becomes quiet. When the mind is quiet, the man becomes steady. When the man becomes steady, the people around him can become steady too.
