Meditations

by Marcus Aurelius

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” The power of the mind, though often spoken about remains underrated. Aurelius was an ancient Roman Emperor who was all too aware of the power of inner peace and rational thinking. He practised a large range of spiritual and mediational practices as well as philosophy and noted his thoughts down in a journal. It was these practices and beliefs that crafted his successful leadership over the Roman Empire and what allowed him to go down in history as an exemplary Emperor. I have received a plethora of teachings and lessons which are beneficial to not just my challenges as a leader but daily lives. a lesson that stood out to me personally is that problems are created in the mind. Sometimes we are anxious about a challenge or an uncomfortable situation, this anxiety leads us to exuberate the problem at hand and causes unnecessary stress in the present. A lesson I have learnt to encompass is that stressing about the future only brings me unhappiness. To quote Marcus “Let not future things disturb you, for you will come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with you the same reason which you now use for present things.” Prepare for what you can but do not allow the fear of tomorrow to be your master as a leader you may anticipate an event you feel you may not be ready for, but you must not bring anxiety to your team but to eliminate their stress and deal with the issue when it comes forth. Another important lesson that I'm sure we should all internalize is to not make the problems of another man your own. To explain further, in your life you will meet a myriad of people all with their issues. In some situations, a person’s faults may irritate you especially if they constantly wrong you in other you may feel obligated to help this person improve. The key thing to remember is that you can only advice and demonstrate. Do not surrender to frustration, guide the person to be and do better, remember to do so without corrupting your principles. It is also important not to load other problems on yourself, help where you can but do not carry their cross you have your own to bare. As a leader, this is remarkably important. Your teammates will show faults and you must guide them to improve as well as accept help, forgive others as you would pray to be done so unto yourself and show patience with your team. I strongly encourage this book and not just to scholars, but anyone who would like some enlightenment on self-improvement.

Nyawira Mburia

Rating: 5 Recommend