Marcus Aurelius: Remember that all is but opinion, and…

Events do not arrive with their full meaning attached. A delayed reply can mean rejection, busyness, forgetfulness, or nothing at all. A difficult meeting can be a disaster, a lesson, or simply an uncomfortable hour. What agitates us is often not the event but the verdict we stamp on it. Marcus is not denying that real hardship exists. He is reminding us that our interpretations are more voluntary than we think. We can stop adding catastrophe to inconvenience and insult to ambiguity. This is why a calmer mind feels like a harbor: it has not eliminated the waves outside, but it has stopped letting every wave enter. When your mind starts racing today, separate fact from story. Write down what happened, then write down the conclusion you are adding. You may find that the conclusion, not the fact, is what needs to go.