I’ve been studying Marcus Aurelius’s book Meditations for some time now. Thanks for the suggestion Blake Mycoskie. Meditations is a book that’s been studied forever, but I find it so interesting that it was written with the intent of never being published. It was written for just one person.

This is one of my very favorite lessons from Marcus:

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

Marcus wrote with wisdom and wild abandon because he never expected anyone to see his words. They were for his eyes only.

Following that example, every morning and evening, I spend a little bit of my day in reflection. Just Writing from my heart and making notes to myself as I continue to create a life that makes my heart swell.

It’s like a guide book for me, by me.

And I’ve Learned so much with this simple exercise. Some of it I’ll most likely never share. Every morning as I write though, I’m reminded of so many simple constants about life. They just keep returning to my thoughts over and over again.

So, in the hopes of inspiring you to examine your own life in writing daily, I’ll share a few of my favorite observations:

1. Writing inspires thinking. I say this a lot. But try it for a month. It really, really does.
2. Writing is like a muscle. Use it or it goes away.
3. The only thing we can control in life is our own actions, reactions and our own thoughts. That’s all. That’s it. It’s humbling to realize this over and over again as I write.
4. Every day we have a choice to live a life fully awakened or one where we simply go through the motions. I prefer to stay awake.
5. We can choose to see the abundance in our lives, or the lack. Because that simple choice is a thought in our mind. And again, we control our thoughts.
6. People, our relationships, are the stuff that makes life worth living. If you have crappy relationships, work on them to make them better or find new ones. If you want a life worth living, work on making your relationships with others deeply meaningful.
7. We have this saying at Brains on Fire, a company is the stories they tell. Well, people are also the stories they tell themselves over and over. What stories are you replaying in your thoughts? Good ones or not-so-good ones? You really do get to choose.

What do you know to be true? How has writing inspired your thinking. Or, more importantly, your life?

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