Stoic Prompt week 12 (2024)
"People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, or in the mountains. You are very much in the habit of yearning for those same things. But this is entirely the trait of a base person, when you can, at any moment, find a retreat in yourself. For nowhere can you find a more peaceful and less busy retreat than in your own soul, especially if on close inspection it is filled with ease, which I can say is nothing more than being well ordered. Treat yourself often to this retreat and be renewed." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
4. 3. 1
What if I sought peace where I am now instead of in distant lands?
I feel very fortunate that early in adulthood I learned how to find peace in virtually any setting. When I was in the New Hampshire legislature in my late twenties I mastered this practice from necessity. My day did not stop, frequently, until 10 pm. I would slam down a cocktail and try to go to sleep as soon as I was relaxed, often around midnight. Then I would lay in bed and try to work through today's problems to arrive at solutions to implement tomorrow; then get up at 5:30 am and struggle to get to the State House in Concord.
Rinse and repeat.
A fool's errand. At some point I realized that I never once solved a problem in bed. When I realized that the solution to any problem begins with a clear rested mind, I never tossed and turned again over a complicated situation. I now know now that is because I intuitively grasped that I had no control over circumstances while I was in bed, exhausted and lying flat on my back.
Today, I can find peace of mind in almost any environment. It is comforting and renewing at the same time, especially during stressful times.
Ask yourself the following in the morning:
1) What am I lacking in attains freedom from passion?
2. What for tranquility?
3- What an I? A mere body, estate holder or reputation? None of these things. What then? A rational being.
4. What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions.
5. How did I stray from Serenity?
6. What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial, or uncaring?
7. What did I fail to do in all of these things.
