Yummy things yet to happen for this new year

I had quite a funny post on my Facebook wall to welcome in the new year, it ended with "So think back to the wonderful things that happened this past year, and enjoy the anticipation of the yummy things yet to happen for this new year." (I had, what I thought, a clever play on words where I earlier mentioned anticipating scoffing into a cake that my wife had baked).

Some days later I was shuffling around some of the books on the book case and found myself flipping pages over an old "History of Philosophy" textbook where I found myself spending time reading on Stoicism. Wikipedia has them down as teaching "that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions." More importantly to me "the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, and they thought that the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how they behaved." Perhaps there was something here that could be applied to life in the 21st century.

Turns out that one of the most important Stoic philosophers Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors penned what is now titled the "Meditations (of Marcus Aurelius)". Initially written to himself as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement, the writings run over 12 books that were written during the various periods of his life. Admittedly I have yet to read the works, or even a digest of his works ... but one of the (many) themes of his writings is of "maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as "Being a good man"". Now that is something that I can get behind! I did however peruse the many reviews and reflections on his works and the extracts (of translations) were powerfully eye opening (and quotable).

• If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.
• Not to feel exasperated or defeated or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human—however imperfectly—and fully embrace the pursuit you've embarked on.
• Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself.
• When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine.
• Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust or lose your sense of shame or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill-will or hypocrisy or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.
• Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou will have finished.

Great to reflect on as we anticipate all the yummy things yet to happen this year!