Meditations: The Obstacle Is the Way

Picture the most powerful man on Earth, nearly two thousand years ago. Now picture him alone in a tent, scribbling notes to himself by lamplight. That man was Marcus Aurelius, and those notes became Meditations. He ruled Rome through a devastating plague and almost constant war. He never intended anyone else to read what he wrote. It was a private diary, a way of talking himself through the day. One entry opens with a rather blunt warning to himself. 'Today,' he writes, 'I'll deal with people who are meddling, ungrateful and arrogant.' But instead of resenting them, he reminds himself that we're all made to work together. Much of the book boils down to one deceptively simple distinction. Some things are within our control: our judgements, our choices, our actions. Almost everything else, other people, the weather, the past, isn't. And pouring energy into that second category is, frankly, exhausting. His most quoted line is about obstacles. 'The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.' In other words, the problem itself can become the path forward. A cancelled plan becomes a chance to practise patience. Marcus also kept death firmly in view, not to be gloomy, but to remind himself that time is the one thing we never get back. That's what makes even an ordinary day so precious. Perhaps my favourite line is also the shortest. 'Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.' Two thousand years later, it's still remarkably good advice. So, what's standing in your way today? It might just be the way.