Stop Monkeying Around (Day 189)

7/8/2019

Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay

“Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around!”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.37

Where Marcus is going with this is that he wants us to stop wasting time complaining about what we don’t have, or what we’re wishing for, or what didn’t work out. To the Imperial Marcus, that time-wasting is what he calls “monkeying around.”

The quality that helps us knock off the complaining is: Character.

Self-respect, determination, Courage… these are some building blocks of Character.

Even though monkeys have opposable thumbs, they can’t really “build”...

… but we can, and it’s our duty to build Character.

(See y’all tomorrow)

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About the Blog

Awakening the desire to explore Stoicism, and how it relates to his existing beliefs, Rev. William committed to working through the text, The Daily Stoic, a year-long journey to awaken the Stoic mind.
How things are structured can be found in the first post.

About the Author

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rev. William attended Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado where in 2007 he graduated with a degree in Religious Studies, minoring in Psychology. Currently residing in Longmont, CO, he is one of the Priests and founder of Mountain Ancestors Grove. He spends his time playing mandolin (and some guitar), writing, engaging in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education, community service, and sharing a larger vision of how a polytheist perspective can lead to greater human understanding, acceptance, and gods be good, peace.

A Year of Contemplation