“Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning:

What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion?

What  for tranquility?

What am I? A mere body, estate-holder, or reputation? None of these things.

What, then? A rational being.

What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions.

How did I steer away from serenity?

What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial, or uncaring?

What did I fail to do in all these things?”

Epictetus, Discourses, 4.6.34-35

I meditate, some  stretching, and write a Haiku. I also stand on my head and get a new perspective on life to start the day. Turned out to be good training for trumpland.

“Your principles can’t be extinguished unless you snuff out the  thoughts that feed them, for it’s continually in your power to reignite new ones…It’s possible to start living again! See things anew as you once did–that is how to restart life!” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.2

Return my focus to the goals I wish to set for the new year. Improve myself and learn something new every day. Turn off the trump tweets.

“A podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but either place your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish.” Epictetus, Discourses, 2.6.2.5

I understand this one, I get it. You can make a choice to accept and make the best of a situation. Read “Courage Under Fire” by James Bond Stockdale.

In a perfect world trump would be taken off the podium and marched to prison where he would be free to make his choice.

“Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.48.2

Every morning I say I am grateful for “the earth, sea and sky. I picture sand on the beach, blue sky and waves rolling in with Lands End in the distance. Climate Change is real.

“I am your teacher and you are learning in my school. My aim is to bring you to completion, unhindered, free from compulsive behavior, unrestrained, without shame, free, flourishing, and happy, looking to God in things great and small–your aim is to learn and diligently practice all these things. Why then don’t you complete the work, if you have the right aim and  I have both the right aim and  right preparation? What is missing?…The work is quite feasible, and is the only thing in our power…Let go of the past. We must only begin. Believe me and you will see.” Epictetus, Discourses, 2.19.29-34

Work in progress. Make the right choices to control what I have control of , my mind. Trying to enjoy humor about what is happening in trumpland.

“I propose a Constitutional Amendment requiring a President to be a taxpayer.” Andy Borowitz.

“So in the majority of other things, we address circumstances not in accordance with the right assumptions, but mostly by following wretched habit. Since all that I’ve said is the case, the person in training must seek to rise above, so as to stop seeking out pleasure and steering away from pain; to stop clinging to living and abhorring death; and in the case of property and money, to stop valuing receiving over giving.” Musonius  Rufus, Lectures, 6.2.5-11

Now is not the time for inaction as a habit but to spring into action. Instead of just reposting of Facebook it is to support the groups that will be fighting the fight.

“Tranquility can’t be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment–the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? Its because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide–common opinion.” Seneca, Moral Letters, 95.57b-58a

Tranquility is a little beyond my reach at the moment. The trump is filling the internet with out right lies again. His attempt again to throw the spotlight off  of what is important. This fucker is out of his mind and he will be President of the United States of America. Breathe, breathe, control of my mind is my goal.

“Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet. What thoughts now occupy my mind. Is it not fear, suspicion, desire, or something like that?” Marcus  Aurelius,  Meditations, 12-19

I choose to listen to Bernie Sanders about keeping the issues in the forefront that are important. I will not be distracted and waste energy on trump tweets that are then amplified by the media.

“We control our reasoned choice and all acts that depend on that moral will. What’s not under our control are the body and any of its parts, our possessions, parents, siblings, children, or country-anything with which we might associate.” Epictetus, Discourses, 1.22.10

I have control only of my mind and sometimes I wonder about that. I see the pictures of the trump which supposedly he doesn’t want shown  and I can hear him do the big sniff he did in the debates when he was going off script. I let it float away.  Practice,  practice, practice.

“Keep this thought at the ready at daybreak, and through the day and night- there is only one path to happiness, and that is in giving up all outside of your sphere of choice, regarding nothing else as your possession, surrendering all else to God and Fortune.” Epictetus, Discourses, 4.4.39

My choice is all I have to make of this day what comes my way. The wheels of trumpland continue to roll on. I choose to stand back and breathe and turn off the noise.