I'm doing Stoic Week.
Today, as per the manual, I met the sun. I pictured a giant ball of fire millions of miles away, and I felt the gentle light that warms the Earth, a planet which is JUST SO FAR AWAY and no more, and I felt lucky.
I am a very small thing in a very big place. The fact that I exist at all, however briefly, is a thing to be thankful for.
There will come a time when I don't feel this way, but should that stop me from being happy right now? We don't own the future and the past doesn't exist. This is all we have. We can choose to be happy or we can hope that externals will make us happy. Stoics go with option 1.
First say what you would be, and then do what you have to do.
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Public domain image courtesy of the New York Public Library
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