one of the things that helped me when i was down and out last year was reading the book meditations – by marcus aurelius. a friend had sent it to me when he heard i was having a hard time and i found it to be pretty awesome (thank you, juan, for the gift). not only for its insights on facing hard things, but also for the everyday wisdom and philosophy it contained. often referred to as the stoic’s bible, one of the key ideas that struck me was the fact that we really are just a mere blink of an eye in the span of human existence — and that while we do matter, we shouldn’t make too much of our role in the natural course of things. this is not to say that our lives don’t count for much or that our friends & family (& others) don’t value our presence — but, with the stoic approach, it does have the potential to right-size things about ourselves and our place in the human story (keep things in perspective, if you will). nevertheless, i found it to be a good companion to – not a replacement for* – the work i was doing with my counselor (as referenced in the last post). and, i think there might be something of value in it for you, too.
as i close this one out, you should know that i spent over a week on the title of this post. now, some of you might be like, what?! get your sh** together, dettmann – just put a title on it and send it out🙂 and i hear that, but — i was going back and forth between “looking forward” and “looking ahead”. i settled on “looking forward” because of the positivity that is embedded in the phrase — when you look forward to something you are hopeful, waiting with anticipation for what’s to come — and expecting that something good will happen. and, it’s hard to look forward when you’re always looking back — or living back, trapped in the past or by the past — and take it from me, if you don’t deal with your history and that of your ancestors, your sh** will always come out sideways. but, if you do take the time to do the hard work (and reconcile with that shtuff) — you can really live (for today and for tomorrow) — and look forward with new eyes — knowing that something good is coming.
*in my view, nothing can replace the help you can get from a trained mental health professional (if available) and/or medication (if needed).
note: there are a number of translations of meditations out there, but i really like the one pictured here, by Gregory Hays.
(it's like) herding cats... 