please help me understand this quote by Marcus Aurelius
please help me understand this quote by Marcus Aurelius
“if you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
Not an expert here, just an opinion. I think he means that, facing a situation you can't control, you can only control yourself. Let's say a girl you like rejected you or whatever(pain). Sure that sucks, but hey that's life so just move on. Can't make her like you but you can change your point of view. Is it really such a big deal? (Revocation of pain).
Life sometimes sucks, get over it. Just an example that came to mind.
In the end, it's about some sort of acceptance of the things you can't control, and the power to change what you can, within yourself.
Take all this with a grain of salt. I skimmed through Meditations and I'm not a real stoicist.