When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book II
This passage is a terrific reminder on taking the high ground and maintaining the stoic mindset. Aurelius' words about those who annoy us – the “wrongdoer” - having “the same mind and possessing a share of the divine” for me provide a subtle, but significant shift in mindset.
I'm not entirely sure why, but keeping this idea in mind, I find it is in fact more difficult to be vexed by or judgemental towards others (which is quite something, given my curmudgeonly tendencies!)
It's important too that Aurelius precedes his advice with “When you wake up in the morning”.
Given the ease with which we can lose our way in the melee of life, I think it's incredibly important to set our minds on the right tack at the beginning of each day. As Henry Ward Beecher said:
“The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.”
A key part of my morning routine is to reflect on my short and medium-term goals. I like to re-connect with the thoughts and emotions that inspired my goals in the first place. In addition, I think it's so important to make this a habit.
Taking a few minutes to set our mind straight is an easy thing to do, but it's also an easy thing to not do. When we make it a habit, we cement an action that protects us from drifting off course.
Do you have a morning ritual you use to start the day on the right foot? Do share your insights below.