Why Facing Death Is The Key To Success

time is passing us never to return and if we can catch that as it's happening it's less likely that we'll wake up one day in anger or disappointment and go where did all the time go [Music] one of the interesting things about Memento Mori is like when you hear it for the first time you realize that you're actually not hearing it for the first time and first off most of us don't speak Latin but there's something about Memento Mori where we kind of know how to say it and then we start to recognize that it's been with us like there's a store at Disneyland in New Orleans where called Memento Mori people were in it as a kid there's there's famous art that you remember seeing on movies or in museums that are in that what they call vonitas or the Memento Mori format even the symbols of Memento Mori The Hourglass the flower the skull this doesn't feel unfamiliar to us because it isn't it's one of the oldest artistic and philosophical genres you could even call it a Trope it's so common because humans for all time have been coming back to this thing thinking about it meditating on it picking items to remind them of it whether it's the skull on the Philosopher's desk or a tattoo or a coin they carry in their pocket it's just always been with us because death has always been with us this wrestling with our mortality has always been with us foreign just means remember you are mortal remember that you will die Marcus Aurelius says you could leave life right now let that determine what you do and say and think never forget you're mortal you don't have forever you could go at any moment whether it's a pandemic or a car crash or a cancer diagnosis life is very short don't take it for granted don't assume you're going to live forever live as if you have limited time because you do have limited time that's what Memento Mori means and that's why I carry it with me everywhere I go I think the Memento Mori concept that hit me the hardest comes from Seneca Seneca says don't think of death as something in the future that we're moving towards think of death as something that's happening now he says we're dying every minute we're dying every day this is the time that passes belongs to death it's dead to us so his point is that you don't look in an actuary table and go oh I've got 40 years left you go oh I've already died however many years I've been alive that time is dead and gone and can never be gotten back and when you realize then that as as you are killing time time is killing you it changes your relationship with your life itself and that's what Memento Mori is supposed to do it's not supposed to be morbid or depressing or paralyzing it's supposed to be the exact opposite it's supposed to be clarifying it's supposed to give you priority it's supposed to give you perspective it's supposed to help you realize how important the second in front of you right now is and that if you ignore it it dies and it's gone forever [Music] throughout history Memento Mori reminders have come in many forms right it's a statue it's a piece of art it's a tombstone in a cemetery maybe most people don't want to think about this but for the people that do it's it's striking and invigorating and moving because reflecting and meditating on the shortness of life is actually a key to living life to the fullest my friends at 10 000 made this cool set of training gear inspired by these ideas I already wear their clothes all the time you've seen me running in their shorts a million times but now they have this cool Memento Mori reminder on on the short which uh when I looked down it always catches my eye it's on their lightweight shirt and their interval short it's another Memento Mori reminder their interpretation of this Timeless idea don't miss out seize the day and get yours now at ten thousand dot c c [Music] every time you see the sunset every time you see the sunrise you should stop as the Stokes do and remind yourself you will never see that again you'll never see that specific sunrise or specific Sunset again that's part of it but the other thing is that's one less that you will ever get in your life the stoics say it's not that death is in the future but that we're dying every minute every day every time we see the sunset every time we get a haircut every time we watch a few seconds tick on the clock you have to remind yourself that it's time you will never get back time is not just our most precious resource but it's ticking away it is non-renewable foreign Mento Mori practice I I bought on Etsy I bought this chunk of a Victorian Tombstone took forever to arrive it came from Australia or something and I I don't want to think about or know how they got it but it's a chunk of a tombstone from a very long time ago it's just a piece and all it says on it is Dad right this is the chunk of someone's Tombstone who was a father who died was gone forever and I have that Chunk on my bathroom mirror when I get up in the morning to brush my teeth when I brush my teeth before I go to bed I grab something from the bathroom I look at that and it's a reminder to me of of so many things one that we're all gonna die no matter how important people are to us or we are to other people no matter how much we love life not only are we going to die but in short order even our tombs will be forgotten the marble that they put on her headstone will break apart and be forgotten and become trash that gets sold on the internet but the other part of it is that the reason we can't can't forsake time take it for granted take time for granted is the things that are important to us that you're a father you're a mother that you're a son or daughter whatever that is that that's what matters I I'm also just sobered by inspired by that that's the thing that someone chose to put on their Tombstone and so my momentum worry practice other than I you know I got the coin in my pocket I've got one on my desk I've got a Memento Mori print on the wall maps all of that is great but this one is the Memento more that hits me the hardest every single time I look at it foreign practices whenever I'm cutting my kids fingernails or cutting their hair or mowing lawn or cutting my own fingernails I try to think about the time that that is noting has elapsed time as Seneca was saying that we'll never get back if it's gone forever each time you're cutting your nails that's one less time that you will ever do that that's literally your your body noting the time that has passed and so momentum order isn't just having this stuff it's also noticing the signs that life is giving you Mary Laura pilpot the this this writer I like she was noting how your face shows your age and she says maybe that's the purpose of faces to sort of remind you of your mortality to remind you how not in control you are to remind yourself what is happening to you as it's happening it's there it stares you in the face the Stokes would say there's no escaping it no matter how powerful or important or rich or successful or which fun or pleasure we're having time is passing us as we are doing this never to return never to come back and if we can catch that as it's happening it's less likely that we'll wake up one day in anger or disappointment and go where did all the time go I hope you liked this video I hope you subscribe but what I really want you to subscribe to is our daily stoic email one bit of stoic wisdom totally for free to the largest community of stoics ever in existence you can sign up at dailystill.com email there's no spam you can unsubscribe at any time I love sending it I've sent it every day for the last six years and hope to see you there at dailystoke.com email foreign [Music]

Channel: Daily Stoic

Views: 113,096

Keywords: Stoic, Stoicism, Ryan Holiday, Ryan Holiday Stoicism, Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday Interview, Ryan Holiday Stoic, Ryan Holiday Daily Stoic, Stoicism TED talk, marcus aurelius, marcus aurelius meditations, ryan holiday podcast

Id: 6qx2ytcfH8c

Length: 8min 25sec (505 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 01 2022