Happy Sunday Friends! Here is 1 quote I’m musing, 2 Ideas, 3 of my favorite things from the week, and 1 question. If you find it useful or interesting, please feel free to forward this along to some friends or others!

Eight months into my most recent job, I’m changing again. It’s a nominative assignment and I’ll discuss what it is next week (after I start) so as not to potentially blow any secrets.

Summary of my feelings is… I feel a bit like the dog who actually caught a car.

“Oh, uh-oh. I didn’t think I was going to get it.”

It’s exciting, it’s a little terrifying. Key is to make sure I have a grip on the bumper and not the wheel. And Amor Fati (Love Fate).

In comes Marcus.

One Quote I’m Musing

“Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed? It’s just the same with you – and just as vital to nature.”

-Marcus Aurelius

Change is necessary for human existence. We can’t have fire without changing the wood, we can’t have cars without turning combustible dinosaurs into noise complaints (for now).

Without it, we cannot grow, build relationships, friendships, overcome obstacles, or feel love, pride, anger, fear, or motivation.

First, we suffer in anticipation of change (causing suffering)

This fear that something changing will cause a shift in our lives (it will), our routine will be disrupted or altered (it will) and cause some type of loss.

The anticipation leads us beyond Premeditatio Malorum, negative visualization, and into catastrophizing. As Seneca would say, suffering twice.

We are usually afraid of change because we tie it directly to our fear of the unknown.

Interestingly, the single greatest constant in history is that everything changes. Also, there’s nothing new under the sun. Most of what we have dealt with or will encounter in the future has been dealt with in one form or another (though probably not exactly) by someone either much smarter or much dumber than us.

And they’ve likely documented it. So, if they can figure it out, so can we. Especially if we just do some reading, or as the ancient Oracle cryptically told Zeno when he was a young man: “Speak with the Dead”.

The concepts of control and our expectations color the world with our own thoughts. We are a part of a cycle, and change is the nature of that cycle. Accepting change as natural to our existence builds resilience to adversity and steels the mind against catastrophizing.

Things will happen as they do, not as we expect.

Amor Fati

Two Ideas From Me

It isn’t because things are difficult that we don’t want to try. Rather, it’s our not wanting to take risk that makes things difficult.
Changes in clime and place break us out of our comfort zones and bring life to the mind.

Three Favorite Things From Others

“You say ‘amateur’ as if it was a dirty word. ‘Amateur’ comes from the Latin word ‘amare’, which means to love. To do things for the love of it.” - Mozart in the Jungle
“What we are teaches the child far more than what we say, so we must be what we want our children to become.” - Joseph Chilton Pearce
“I would recognize you in total darkness, were you mute and I deaf. I would recognize you in another lifetime entirely, in different bodies, different times. And I would love you in all of this, until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion.” - Madeline Miller | Possibly the most beautiful way I’ve ever read to articulate the words “I Love You.”

One Question

Imagine you are dead and given the option to repeat any period in your life of your choosing. What would you choose? What insight does your choice give you about how you should be living your todays?

Have a wonderful week,

I’ll see you Sunday.
-e