Marcus Aurelius on why the hurt is in your judgment, not the thing. From Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, about 175 AD.
Marcus Aurelius did not invent this idea. A teacher handed it to him.
His favorite teacher, Junius Rusticus, lent him his own copy of the lessons of Epictetus. Epictetus was a Greek teacher who had once been enslaved.
He taught that much of what upsets people is not what happens to them. It is how they judge what happens.
Marcus Aurelius learned from his teacher Rusticus, who lent him the lessons of Epictetus, that people are upset less by events than by their judgments of them. As emperor he wrote that if something outside you causes pain, the pain is your own judgment, and you can wipe it out. His test: throw away the bitter cucumber, and skip asking why cucumbers are bitter.
The thing happened once; the verdict hurts each time you repeat it. Practical advice: when something stings, write the plain fact, then the story you added.
Well established · checked against 6 sourcesWrite down one thing that stung today, then cross out the story you added.
“A short reply from my boss ruined my whole day. How do I stop reading so much into it?”
Take Back the Verdict and the other 11 ideas of Meditations, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
