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    “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”

    Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey

      “If a friend betrays us, our reverse clause is to learn from how this happened and how to forgive this person’s mistake. If we’re thrown in prison, our reverse clause is that we can refuse to be broken by this change of events and try to be of service to our fellow prisoners. When a technical glitch erases our work, our reverse clause is that we can start fresh and do it better this time. Our progress can be impeded or disrupted, but the mind can always be changed—it retains the power to redirect the path.”

      Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 167)

        “True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has been so unified that darkness cannot be perceived.”

        A Course In Miracles, via Sunbeams (Page 96)

          “How much harder is it to do the right thing when you’re surrounded by people with low standards? How much harder is it to be positive and empathetic inside the negativity bubble of television chatter? How much harder is it to focus on your own issues when you’re distracted with other people’s drama and conflict? We’ll inevitably be exposed to these influences at some point, no matter how much we try to avoid them. But when we are, there is nothing that says we have to allow those influences to penetrate our minds. We have the ability to put our guard up and decide what we actually allow in.”

          Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 104)

            “A dog that’s allowed to chase cars will chase cars. A child who is never given any boundaries will become spoiled. An investor without discipline is not an investor—he’s a gambler. A mind that isn’t in control of itself, that doesn’t understand its power to regulate itself, will be jerked around by external events and unquestioned impulses.”

            Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 101)

              “If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled—have you no shame in that?”

              Epictetus, via The Daily Stoic (Page 78)

                “You can’t think your way into acting better but you can act your way into thinking better.”

                Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 160)

                  “Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?”

                  Epictetus, The Daily Stoic (Page 52)

                  Marcus Aurelius Quote on Remembering Our Natural Born Power To Choose Between Good and Evil

                    “Erase the false impressions from your mind by constantly saying to yourself, I have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire or any kind of disturbance—instead, seeing the true nature of things, I will give them only their due. Always remember this power that nature gave you.”

                    Marcus Aurelius, The Daily Stoic (Page 34)

                    Beyond the Quote (Day 391)

                    Your current ability to utilize the power nature gave you to keep out evil, desire, and disturbance is largely dependent on your track record. Your track record contains within it all of the successes and failures you’ve accumulated throughout your lifetime. And confidence—the confidence you have in your ability to act—is a result of nothing more than your remembered successes (or lack thereof).

                    Read More »Marcus Aurelius Quote on Remembering Our Natural Born Power To Choose Between Good and Evil

                      “All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.”

                      Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sunbeams (Page 19)

                        “Be like the bird, pausing in his flight

                        On limb too slight,

                        Feels it give way, yet sings,

                        Knowing he has wings.”

                        Victor Hugo, Sunbeams (Page 17)

                          “A wise person knows what’s inside their circle of control and what is outside of it. The good news is that it’s pretty easy to remember what is inside our control. According to the Stoics, the circle of control contains just one thing: YOUR MIND. That’s right, even your physical body isn’t completely within the circle. After all, you could be struck with a physical illness or impairment at any moment. You could be traveling in a foreign country and be thrown in jail. But this is all good news because it drastically reduces the amount of things that you need to think about. There is clarity in simplicity.”

                          Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 21)

                            “The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, repulsion, preparation, purpose, and assent. What then can pollute and clog the mind’s proper functioning? Nothing but its own corrupt decisions.”

                            Epictetus, via The Daily Stoic (Page 15)