The Comfort Book

Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome from 161 B.C. until he died of illness in 180 B.C.. He was educated according to the principles of stoicism, an ancient school of philosophy founded in 300 B.C. Marcus Aurelius, influenced by this doctrine, had his own ideas on the problems that afflict human beings. He believed that the pain we feel in some situations is not an objective fact, but the result of the attitude we assume towards what has happened to us. If we get lost in a forest, for example, the source of our problems is not the forest itself, but the fact that we feel lost. It is therefore necessary to realise that our struggles do not lie in the nature of the world as it is, but in the way we choose to look at it. Embracing this idea will not bring us immediate relief and will not lead us out of the woods at once, but it will help us accept the things that happen to us more easily, and help us find peace when we are lost among the trees.

The events that take place in our lives are neutral, and then become positive or negative as they are processed by our mind. It is therefore up to us to decide how to see them. It's not always easy to change perspective, mind you: sometimes events might seem just too overwhelming, but knowing that we can always look at something from another perspective can be quite comforting. Keeping an open mind, and being able to consider other points of view is a goal in itself, and something to treasure. Thinking this way can also make us strong, because we are no longer at the mercy of circumstances that we cannot control: we decide how to deal with a given issue, which helps weaken its hold on us.