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February    5th

STEADY  YOUR    IMPULSES

“Don’t  be  bounced around, but submit  every   impulse to  the claims  of  justice,    and protect your

clear   conviction  in  every   appearance.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS,   MEDITATIONS,    4.22

hink of the manic people in your life. Not the ones suffering from an unfortunate disorder, but the ones
whose lives and choices are in disorder. Everything is soaring highs or crushing lows; the day is
either amazing or awful. Aren’t those people exhausting? Don’t you wish they just had a filter through
which they could test the good impulses versus the bad ones?
There is such a filter. Justice. Reason. Philosophy. If there’s a central message of Stoic thought, it’s
this: impulses of all kinds are going to come, and your work is to control them, like bringing a dog to heel.
Put more simply: think before you act. Ask: Who is in control here? What principles are guiding me?