October 10, 2026

Make Space In Your Mind

Thou canst also strip off from thyself many things superfluous and troublesome which depend entirely on opinion, and thou wilt then gain for thyself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of each several thing, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution.

Marcus Aurelius wrote the Meditations as a private notebook while commanding Roman legions on the northern frontier, surrounded by plague, war, and the daily grind of ruling an empire. In this passage from Book Nine, he reminds himself that much of what troubles him is not fact but opinion, and that stepping back to consider the vastness of time and the universe dissolves that trouble into its true, tiny size. This is the heart of the View from Above, a mental exercise the ancient Stoics used, picturing human affairs from a great height or across the span of eternity to loosen the grip of anger, grief, or petty irritation. Practiced daily, it does not deny real feeling but reframes it, so the mind regains the ample space Marcus describes instead of staying cramped by the moment. Stoics return to this exercise whenever a problem looms large, using scale itself as a tool for steadiness.

A principle of Stoicism: The View from Above →