Amor Fati

#24 - On Accepting Nature | Marcus Aurelius

Reflection ✏️

You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
- Quote by Marcus Aurelius from beststoicquotes.com

Whenever something happens to us, we have the power to choose how we react.

That’s pretty foreign to a lot of people.

But how could it not be true?

In any situation we have the choice to let rising emotions dictate reactions, or we can take the high ground, take a moment to consider how we want things to play out, and then act deliberately.

If we are hurt by something, it is because there is something unresolved in us, we haven’t attended to yet and choose to ignore. Then we suddenly get confronted with it and go on the defensive.

It might also be because we created some kind of expectation that is not being met.

Those are things that are in our power to take care of. Outside circumstances are not.

Also, keep a positive attitude about you. It helps attract positivity from others, and guide your brain to make you detect more upsides in your life, as it gets trained to value such thoughts over negative ones.

The Stoics called this being in the state of Eudaimonia, aka. living in accordance with nature.

In essence, it is the principle of seeing and accepting things for what they are.

To not want anything to be different from what it inherently is.

After all, you don’t get mad at the weather system for making it rain, do you?

So why get mad at some moron for insulting you?

Learning 💡

Things affect us as much as we let them. Be aware of your own faults, traumas, expectations. Choose to behave deliberately.

Discard negative thought about things that cannot be changed. (Amor Fati)

Feedback

Now I’d love to hear from you!

What situation have you dealt with where your mind prevailed over your body?

Or maybe you have another great quote regarding Amor Fati? Don’t hesitate to submit it via this form or leave a comment 📝

Want more? Check out last week’s reflection

Get our next quote reflection straight to your inbox 👇

Share with a fellow Stoic 🙏