As you know, I've been reading the Stoics a bit lately, and came across this quote from Marcus Aurelius in his book, Mediations. I absolutely fell in love with it. I love the word "dwell" and how here it is use for such a positive message. Usually it is associated with negative connotations - dwell on the past, dwell on the bad things, dwell on uncertainty...and so on. But this quote reminds us to dwell on the beauty of life. It amazes me that the "mindfulness movement" has gained such popularity in recent years when two thousand years ago (at least), it was already a movement and people were urged to take stock of their lives and enjoy the little things.
I thought long and hard about the second part of the quote - watch the stars and see yourself running with them. I came up with this thought: the stars move slowly. They do move, but it's slow and requires a lot of patience to see them go. They move on a steady, predictable path and nothing can stop them. If we were to run with them, then one could surmise that the advice being offered here is to run slowly, steadily, patiently but to always keep moving forward.
What do you think? Do you agree with my interpretation or does Marcus Aurelius speak to you in a different way? I always love to hear what you take away from these Bitesize Inspirations.
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