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of this video but for now let’s get on with 5 ways to start your day from the morning
routine of Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius says “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?” He was the emperor of Rome from 161 to 180
AD and is considered as the last of the Five Good Emperors. During his rule, he found the time to construct
a series of autobiographical writing known as Meditations, in which he admits difficulty
in getting out of bed in the morning. He has a conversation with himself where he
reminds himself that everything in nature is working, the plants, the birds, the bees,
all doing what it was born to do to keep the world evolving and we as human beings are
not exempt from doing our part, regardless of our social status. Every single life form is serving and working
and it is our duty to do the same. Every day, we must remember to do our part
for the world and to fail in that endeavor is to go against nature itself. Thanks to his prolific journalling, we have
a fair idea of what his morning routine would have looked like and in this video we will
be diving into 5 different things Marcus Aurelius would have done in his mornings and how we
can follow or adapt that routine to our modern day lives. 1. Greet your mornings with gratitude
Marcus Aurelius tells us that “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious
privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love”
Marcus Aurelius, despite spending most of his life in the battlefield, greeted every
morning with gratitude. He was so obsessed with perfection and improving
his character that he saw each day as a provision to do things better and was thankful for all
the opportunities that he got. On the other hand, we in the modern world
spend way too much of our time focusing on our problems in pursuit of our materialistic
desires and in worrying about superfluous uncertainties that we see each day as a miserable
battleground for survival rather than seeing it as a miraculous opportunity to be alive,
to experience joy and to be able to love. Yes, our modern world is far more complex
and given the current scenario, there are far more things to be concerned about like
the ongoing pandemic, unemployment, climate change and so on but ask yourself if you had
the chance to be reborn at any time in human history. What would you choose? You may choose to be in the stone age to experience
the invention of fire or you might choose the time when Michelangelo added the final
daubs of paint to the Sistine Chapel, or in 16th-Century to witness Shakespeare’s opening
nights. However, living to see these momentary highlights
would also bring myriad downsides. If you got ill, your medical care might involve
leeches and trepanning. There is a high probability that you would
be poor and hungry for most of your life. Hence, if you had the chance to be reborn,
one of the smarter, more prudent choices would be today; right now. We should be thankful for being alive just
for rising up in the morning. Because not everyone is so lucky to see that
sunrise. Therefore, regardless of your life’s situation,
you should be grateful for getting the precious privilege to be alive – to be able to breathe,
think, enjoy and love. Remember, the person who died last night was
most likely craving for that one extra breath. 2. Practice Premeditatio Malorum
According to Marcus Aurelius “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people
I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.” Premeditatio malorum or negative visualization
is a technique to anticipate the worst so that we can adequately prepare ourselves for
the challenges that lie ahead. Stoicism being the practical philosophy, makes
us see the world the way it is rather than imagining it as an ideal society. Despite being a man of great discipline and
temperance, Marcus Aurelius is believed to have practiced this form of negative visualization. He mentally prepared himself for the people
he might encounter, and was ready to handle anyone, no matter how difficult or abrasive
they may be. The idea here is not to keep worrying or have
a pessimistic approach but to stay prepared for the future. We know that misfortune can befall us at any
moment. So if misfortune comes, it’s better to be
prepared than unprepared, and negative visualization helps you with just that. To understand this, let us look at this doctor’s
analogy. Often known as an autopsy in American English,
a postmortem is when doctors try to find out why a person died. They look at the person after the event of
death. Negative visualization is like a premortem. We ask what could go wrong in advance, before
we start a trip, or launch a product, or go on a job interview. Let’s say you have a job interview the day
after tomorrow. Instead of imagining the most likely scenario,
imagine the worst possible case, generally things that could go wrong, even if those
things are unlikely to happen, say for example your CV catching fire. After visualizing this worst case scenario,
you will now want to be prepared and you will not only bring your CV on paper but also on
a USB stick, or you’ll email it to the company in advance. The Stoics recommend negatively visualizing
not only specific events such as the job interview, but also more general things like your body,
relationships, finances and so on. Say your grandma died and you were overwhelmed
with grief. Visualise how your life would have been had
you never known her. This will give you a feeling of gratitude
for the time you spent with and appreciated her. That’s called retrospective negative visualization. We build up our fears to the point that they
are larger than life. Confronting them and even temporarily experiencing
them, can help you overcome such barriers. You can practice negative visualization every
morning by keeping your expectations upfront and by being far more honest with yourself. Ask yourself - What could go wrong? How would you handle such scenarios? Can you overcome or plan for them? When you prepare for the worst in the morning,
you are in a better place to deal with disaster, if and when it does arise during the day. 3. Practice deliberate discomfort
Marcus Aurelius instructs us to “Set aside a certain number of days, during which you
shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying
to yourself the while: "Is this the condition that I feared?” When he was a boy, a young Marcus Aurelius
would voluntarily wear basic clothing, sleep on the ground to embrace the Greek practice
of Agoge, most commonly used to describe the harsh and brutal training regime employed
by the Spartans to develop endurance, resilience and strength of will. This practice of deliberate discomfort was
common amongst the ancient Stoics. The motive behind this practice is to constantly
test ourselves by making life routinely uncomfortable in some way to harden ourselves for the day
we may need to live it for real. According to Stoic philosophy, just because
you can afford yourself a nice meal every single day, doesn’t mean you should do so,
in fact you may feel better if you skip a few meals from time to time, just to experience
hunger. It builds perseverance and grit, but more
importantly, it demolishes the need for comfort. Once you overcome the need for comfort, life
will become much easier because eventually there will be days where setting your goals
and sticking to them will be far easier. Keeping in mind typical lifestyles of the
modern world, the best time to routinely practice voluntary discomfort is in the mornings. One modern method of voluntary discomfort
is starting each morning with a cold shower. Implementing cold showers into your daily
routine can not only build mental and physical endurance, but they also promote fat loss,
reduce depression, lower stress, and improve circulation. You could also try other things like sleeping
on the floor, pushing extra weights in gym, avoiding social media so that you can use
your morning time for productive work like journaling or reading. Many of us in modern society live in relative
comfort, so voluntary discomfort is a true reminder of how good we really have it. By taking extended periods of not eating,
taking cold showers, sleeping on the floor, and foregoing other modern advances we then
become more grateful for the things we do have but often take for granted. The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more
you’ll become comfortable. 4. Journaling
Marcus Aurelius explains “The recognition that I needed to train and discipline my character. Not to be sidetracked by my interest in rhetoric. Not to write treatises on abstract questions,
or deliver moralizing little sermons, or compose imaginary descriptions of The Simple Life
or The Man Who Lives Only for Others. To steer clear of oratory, poetry and belles
lettres. Not to dress up just to stroll around the
house, or things like that. To write straightforward”
In 1994, a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, Dr. James Pennebaker
and his team conducted an experiment in which they split people who had been out of a job
for eight months into three groups. The first group was asked to write about their
layoff and how they felt about it, the second was invited to write but about nothing in
particular, and the final group was given no writing instructions. The participants that recorded their layoff
experiences were notably more likely to find new jobs in the aftermath of the study. By writing, they were able to formally declutter
the stress and the noise in their minds and become more aligned with what they were feeling. It gave them the push they needed to grasp
where they were and where they needed to go. The practice of journaling reflects Stoic
practicality, allows us to think more clearly and helps us to live a virtuous life. At dawn, Marcus Aurelius would rise early
from his sleep, sit at his desk, organize his thoughts, and write detailing his Stoic
philosophy, and preparing for the day ahead. Through his practice of journaling, the Emperor
was able to reflect upon the thoughts he was having about himself, his relationships with
other people, the world around him, and his place in it. Life these days has a high potential to cause
stress, anxiety, and worry. There is so much around us that keeps us distracted,
stimulated and fighting for our attention. It can be difficult to keep a clear head. The human mind is extremely noisy, and the
practice of journaling gives us the opportunity to articulate our thoughts, reflect on how
we handle different situations, and clarify the way in which we wish to approach life. In stoicism the art of journaling is more
than just keeping a diary. This daily practice is philosophy. It is how you prepare for the day ahead in
the morning and reflect on the day that has passed in the evening. By writing and reading your own experiences,
you remind yourself of the things you have learned from mentors and teachers, and provide
a tool for yourself to realign with the person you want to be when you feel like you are
wandering from that path. You can start this practice by putting aside
10 minutes in the morning and writing in whatever form you find is most convenient for you. You can write or jot notes down on paper or
pull up an empty document on your computer and record your thoughts. It is the process that counts. The more we write, the more our philosophy
ingrains itself in our character, and the less we will find ourselves forgetting the
wisdom that we have come across in the past. 5. Tackle The Most Important Task First
In our final quote from Marcus Aurelius today, he tells us to “Concentrate every minute
like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness,
tenderly, willingly, with justice” It is well known that Marcus would tackle
his most difficult tasks first. He did not procrastinate or put things off. He never neglected hard work or avoided his
most unpleasant duties. He had a job to do and he never complained
about it to himself or to anyone else. Every day we have a list of things we would
like to accomplish but we hardly ever get as much done as we’d like. When you have that list of things to do, there
are clearly items that are more important than others. Stuff that we really should tackle and stuff
that may be nice, but not essential. For example, if you’re trying to write a
report that is due, then that would probably be your most important task. Despite knowing this fact, you work on everything
else. You avoid working on your report due to procrastination. In the end, your most important task often
ends up as the one still left on your list. Which is why it is recommended to do your
most important task the first thing in the morning. The idea behind tackling the most important
task first is that each morning if you complete a task that you will most likely procrastinate
on, you go about your day knowing you’ve done it and the rest of your day will be easy
in comparison. For example, let’s say you have to do laundry,
grocery shopping and prepare a report on the same day, and find preparing the report to
be challenging or tedious. Then, the way to prioritize your to do list
is to start doing the task that you will most likely procrastinate on. In this case, it would recommend that you
complete your report first before you do anything else. Once you have gotten the dreadful task out
of the way, going grocery shopping and doing laundry doesn’t look that bad in comparison
and you will feel more empowered. The reason behind this approach is in the
morning your mind is clear, everything is quiet, and you haven’t gotten pulled into
six different directions–yet. It’s your one opportunity to prioritize
the thing that matters to you most, before your phone starts ringing and email inbox
starts dinging. By completing the important task on your to-do
list before anything else, you get both momentum and a sense of accomplishment. As we said at the beginning, this video is
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