Marcus didn't write Meditations as a man who had it figured out. He wrote it because he kept slipping and needed to call himself back. His instruction to himself was gentle: when you've strayed from your principles, just return, the way you'd come back to a person you love. There's no shame budget you run out of. Each moment offers a fresh start. You lost your patience this morning; you can choose patience now. You wasted the day; the evening is still here. This is one of the kindest Stoic ideas, that you're never locked out for messing up. Today, wherever you've drifted from how you want to live, simply begin again, without the speech about how you should have done better.

Inspired by the old idea of present moment. Written by Ugo Charles.