A Late Meditation

Well I'm not sure if anyone has noticed but as you can see I am behind on some of my blogs. This is because on February 3rd my father passed away from a freak accident and I had to rush home to be with my family and attend his funeral. His death drowns my heart in sorrow, but I have come back to school to continue and make him proud. After his death I have contemplated the fragility of human life greatly and now that I have had the chance to read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations I have picked two that I feel are pretty solid and timeless.

#7 Don't be afraid to need help. Like a solider storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you have been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?

This meditation resonates with me especially since I have been wounded greatly this month. In my past I have refused help and sacrifice because I wanted to be independent. Now that I am feeling real deep pain and sorrow I understand that asking for help is actually the right thing to do and receiving the gift of help and love is good. Receiving doesn't make me any less of a solider. If I have a mission to accomplish and the best way for me to get it done efficiently and correctly is by help than so be it. I have realized that it takes true maturity to accept genuine help and to accept that you can't do it alone.

#59 Dig deep; the water-goodness-is down there. And as long as you keep digging, it will keep bubbling up.

When I read this meditation I agreed because I believe that we are all born good and it is our experiences that can expose us to evil and we can choose to believe in that evil. I think we have all encountered that annoying person or rude individual and assume that they are just that way. Marcus Aurelius tends to meditate on how he can get along with people he can't stand maybe because he has trouble finding the good in them. I think I was drawn to this meditation because maybe I too struggle to get along with people I don't jive with. When I encounter people I try to remember that we all carry a unique story. We have all suffered and rejoiced and to keep in mind that we are all equal, we are all good! If we expose ourselves and dig into the hard shells we are all softies!