Italian Food Didn't Get the Best of Me

”The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”
– Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Philosopher

Last night, while reading Marcus Aurelius’ personal diary “Meditations”, I got a sudden craving for Italian food. But when I went to the cookbook section (641.5) of my private home library—organized strictly by the Dewey Decimal System—my favorite Italian cookbook was missing!

For a librarian, a missing book can cause quite a stir, and I could feel my anxiety and stress level rising. But then I thought about the Stoic philosophy of Marcus and felt better right away. It teaches it’s our perception of the situation—whether big or small— that causes the problem, and we can avoid pain by following a detached point of view.

“Today, I escaped anxiety,” Marcus reflected in his diary, written around 171-175 CE. “Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside.”

What I learned from Marcus and his philosophy is we have total control over what we think and can banish any discordant thoughts or those that don’t serve us well—anytime we want. That’s just what I did about the missing book…put the thought about it or its whereabouts out of my mind and my stress level smoothed out.

“Meditations,” while still considered one of the greatest self help books ever written, served the emperor as a personal guide to lead him and the citizens of Rome through the difficult times of constant wars, plagues, famine and floods. Those times were not so different from the challenges we encounter today, and Marcus’ philosophy should be most helpful to us all.

Admired as one of Rome’s greatest emperors who served from 161-180 CE, he was a victorious leader who not only conquered numerous invading armies, but also the inharmonious thoughts in his own mind.

Thankfully, this morning when I was more relaxed, I did find the missing cookbook (pictured above) in the 629.222 Italian car section.