Let's go back to something we covered recently: what's outside you, your second circle, the past and the future.
Most of our problems and worries are related to regrets about the past and anticipation of the future, neither of which are within our power. Only the present is in our power, simply because we live only in the present moment.
The present is the only true thing.
Realize how much time you have right now, this minute. If you're reading this because you want to get rid of anxiety, realize that in this moment you're building your own resilience and hardening yourself by becoming calmer and therefore wiser. So this moment is actually good for you.
When we become aware of this, we become aware of our freedom.
If you manage to define the present as a tiny moment in your life, you avoid the classic mistake of people who find themselves in a difficult situation and tell themselves that "their life is ruined", you focus on what is now, at this very moment. You live this present moment "with such intensity and love that the whole of life is, as it were, contained and completed in it." 1 You don't put off until tomorrow the things you need to do to enjoy your life to the fullest, but do what's important to you now, whether it's moving forward with a project, reconnecting with a friend, spending time with your partner, or learning to live like a philosopher.
Don't you sometimes have the feeling that something should have happened at a different time? A little earlier or a little later in life.
For a Stoic, every event happens exactly when it should happen. Stoicism not only asks us to greet every event with joy, but also to greet them with joy at the exact moment they present themselves to us.
Marcus Aurelius:
“Everything is fitting for me, my Universe, which fits thy purpose.
Nothing in thy good time is too early or too late for me;
everything is fruit
for me which thy seasons,
Nature, bear; from thee, in thee, to thee
are all things.” 2
You see,
Things happen now, precisely now, because now is the right moment 3; and according to the ancient Greeks, it is because this thing “arrives at the right time, according to the necessary, methodical and harmonious unfolding of all events, each of which arrives at its own time, in its own season. 4
To want the event that is happening at this moment is to want what the universe itself wants, to be in harmony with it.
Try to see every life experience that presents itself to you at this moment in a favorable or unfavorable light as ultimately a good thing, because in this great movie that is your life, everything has a logic.
And in the face of a death that could be both 50 years away and imminent, you can't just let the present moment pass as if it doesn't matter.
The moment you're living now is the most important moment of your life, because the past no longer exists and the future doesn't yet exist.
The only true life is the now.
If you aren't living in the present moment {{username}}, it's as if you aren't really living. You're, in a sense, standing outside yourself and being pulled backward or forward by the past or the future.
This idea is closely related to another we will see a bit later: the discipline of action: performing right actions whose goal has been determined and set in advance. Isn't it easier to give priceless value to every moment of life, every action, when you know it could be the last of your life?
Finally {{username}},
ask yourself this question: can you say to yourself that you have realized your life in this moment, that you have everything you could want from life? Living fully in the present moment means experiencing this feeling sincerely and deeply.
Nothing exists except the present moment.
This tiny moment of existence is all that exists. No matter how long. A circle is a circle, says Seneca 5, no matter how big or small it is. The happiness of the present moment or an entire whole life is the same, because only the present moment counts.