Important life lessons, courtesy of a Roman emperor

(Image credit: (Adam Woolfitt/Corbis))

last updated 1 July 2016

One way to rise in the world is to learn from others. While there is no way to avoid making mistakes, you can learn to make fewer mistakes. Learning from others will save you a lot of misery over a long life.

That's one of the reasons I'm making friends with the eminent dead. Few things seem wiser than exploring the vast knowledge that's already been recorded and tested through time.

I read a lot. And once in a while I come across a book that knocks me off my feet — one where I walk away saying, "Man, I am so happy I found this book, and I only wish I had read it sooner." Meditations by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is such a book.

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Marcus Aurelius, who ruled the Roman Empire for almost two decades in the second century AD, passes along a lot of immortal wisdom. Meditations tries to answer some deep questions: Why are we here? How should we live? What is right? How can we protect ourselves against the stress and pressure of daily life?

Here, some quick lessons I've learned from reading Meditations.

On living without stress

One of the more interesting things I picked up from Meditations is what Marcus can teach us about living stress-free.

The modern knowledge worker is constantly on the verge of being burned out. Marketers, the savvy people that they are, use this to nudge our vacations. If you’re burnt out, head to Europe, or, the mountains, anywhere but here. The message is simple, if you want peace you need to escape your present circumstances.

There is another way to do this as well that doesn’t involve the hassle of security checks, long lines, or jetlag. Marcus Aurelius teaches us that the best way to to get away from it all is to look inside yourself. And who better to learn about stress from than a Roman emperor who oversaw a vast empire and directed numerous military campaigns?

People try to get away from it all — to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: You can get away from it anytime you like.

By going within.

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful — more free of interruptions — than your own soul.

On living in the moment

Marcus Aurelius also wrote about living a fulfilling life:

Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up. Instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others.

The only thing you can give up is the present:

[Y]ou cannot lose another life than the one you're living now, or live another one than the one you're losing. The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can't lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don't have.

On having a sense of purpose:

People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time — even when hard at work.

On concentration:

Concentrate every minute like a Roman — like a man — on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.

On controlling your thinking:

You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: Everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, "What are you thinking about?" you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.

Shane Parrish is a Canadian writer, blogger, and coffee lover living in Ottawa, Ontario. He is known for his blog, Farnam Street, which features writing on decision making, culture, and other subjects.