Never never be satisfied, as Marcus Aurelius lamented, with a superficial understanding, or just getting the gist. Search deeper in order to discover how they learnt to arrive at that point. Read attentively, the same great authors’ works who have this ability to lift you up onto a higher pedestal.
You will get more from the written word when the work is so far beyond your level of understanding that you must keep going back to it until you attain comprehension. And while that might take many years before it finally hits you, what is better than mastering the art of disciplining your own mind?
It is therefore wise for you to keep to your studies, not merely until you finally understand, but so you may always experience how it feels to live in a calm mind with an unhindered spirit.
And only a small dose of philosophy is needed each day for this experience to start taking effect.
You will learn to not only endure but to enjoy the hardships that life has to offer, working diligently each day until these lessons become ingrained in your character. Complaining will never change anything. Right perspective, right aim and right action, however, that can shape your future.
Never be concerned then about how long this transformation of your mind and development in your character will take, as these matters take a lifetime to achieve anyway. There will never be a day when you finally stop to say, “Hey! I’m done now.” The whole point in learning to achieve mastery is not to end the process, but to further your purpose so as to transition from being a student to a practitioner of the art. You must continue the process until it stops being about learning and becomes a daily practice, going from simple quoting of favourite authors, to being able to work at their same level.
Never concern yourself then regarding matters of how long all these efforts will take you, nor for who else or what purpose other than yourself should people say, ‘why do you make all these efforts on yourself when you don’t need to do any of this?’ Your answer, however, should always be the same:
I make these efforts not for the purpose of others, but for myself.
It makes no sense why you should seek wisdom and an improved mind for no other reason than to experience the state of being a wise person who has cultivated a disciplined life.
It therefore also makes no difference if it never makes a difference to anyone. Learn and put yourself through these paces for yourself. See how much you can become. Make these efforts on yourself for no other reason than to impress thyself. What other good is there to experience the true joy of wisdom and happiness if it cannot be experienced within without someone else praising you for doing so?
That makes no sense whatsoever.
Therefore, be content with the fact that you have many things to be content with that make you feel content. There is nothing better than working hard on yourself.
There is also nothing more important.
Discipline the body in order for your mind to be obedient. Philosophy is discipline for the mind, and therefore a practice of obedience in itself.
And what even is all this philosophy for and about? What will it do for me you might ask?
Philosophy is council for mastering the endurance of hardship, struggling through difficulty, without complaint. It teaches one how to live without worry, using pain to their greater advantage. To focus only on what you can control. To leave matters of fate to see to themselves. And to love fate for whatever way it falls. It will turn your anxieties into focused alertness, how to handle the situation and what the best way to deal with this problem is. This philosophy, you could say then, will get you one step closer, into flow, as it avoids the same conditions of mind that live outside the flow continuum spectrum. Philosophy, therefore, is not only great food for thought, but medicine for the mind.
Jim Rohn once said some people aren’t doing well simply because they aren’t feeling well. Well, if that’s the case and you would like for it not to be, make a disciplined effort to move more, watch less, eat better and read more. In time you shall find you will not only feel much better but be better and become more than you were before.
Philosophy teaches you how to get really good at really hard things. Go a distance you’ve never gone before. Do something you’ve never done before. Keep to this habit at all times and you will be someone who you otherwise would never have become without.
But it all comes down to the choices and habits you create in life for yourself. Right now. Today. Who you become 10-years from now all depends on the choices you make now, today.
So make sure your choices are hard.
DO THE READING: RISE TO THE TASK EARLY [MAKE SURE YOU ENJOY THE DIFFICULTY]
Flow For The Day