You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last. — Mediations, Book II

My Take – Anything you do might be the thing that makes your reputation.  Maybe it will be that the impression will be good, maybe it will be less than flattering.  The problem is that you never know.  The only way you can be sure is to do everything as if it was the one thing that everyone will remember forever.

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy. — Meditations, Book IV

My Take – What my fellow man does is none of my business so long as they don’t harm anyone else.  I find it saves me a lot of energy and time to not care about my neighbor’s politics, personal habits, or hobbies.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect. — Meditations, Book III

My Take – It’s not uncommon for me to have an opportunity to get ahead, or make a bit of money, or make my life easier if I would only cheat someone else or break one of my personal taboos.  Being able to look at my face in the mirror every morning means that I don’t take advantage of them. Basically, I try to not do anything that I wouldn’t want my wife, kids, or grandmother to know about.  My wife, because I don’t want to betray her trust, my kids, because I don’t want to lose their respect, and my grandmother, because I’ve seen her stare down my 6’6″, 250 pound outlaw Viking of a cousin without even having to raise an eyebrow.  Seriously, that woman was like a ninja with a wooden spoon.

It is man’s peculiar duty to love even those who wrong him. — Meditations, Book VII

My Take – Even the worst of us are still human beings, and deserve treatment that fits that status.  It’s easy to dehumanize those who oppose us, or those that wrong us, but to do so takes away from our own humanity.

Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear. — Meditations, Book V

My Take – Once, during the worst crisis our little family has had to endure, Irish Woman quipped that the Lord never gives you anything you can’t handle.  I didn’t believe her at the time, but we endured, we healed, and we have since thrived.  When the worst happens to you, you have to remember that you really do have the strength to survive it. Maybe you won’t come through it unscathed, but you can come through it, if only to look at your end with your head high and with peace in your soul.

It is royal to do good and be abused. — Meditations, Book VII

My Take – If I get a hard time over doing the right thing, then I don’t listen to the criticism.  Conversely, when I am promised reward for doing wrong, I try to decline.  Recently, there was a news report about a firefighter who took a little heat because he took off his oxygen mask and gave it to a woman he was pulling out of a burning house.  Did he do right or wrong?  To him, he did right, because to him his own safety was subordinate to the life of the person he was helping.  Now, I’m not a firefighter or anything like that, but I fully invite criticism of my correct steps along with my incorrect ones.  If I do get in trouble for doing the right thing, it says more about the person doing the criticizing than it does about me.

Know the joy of life by piling good deed on good deed until no rift or cranny appears between them. — Mediations, Book XII

My Take – I find that my life improves as I spend less and less time making it worse for others.  When I give of myself, my life gets better.

Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today inquisitive, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill. — Meditations, Book II

My Take – My biggest thing to work on is my inability to graciously handle people who don’t know how to act.  I have to remember that a good portion of them were never taught manners or had good examples to learn from.  For them, I try to be a good example and forgive them their ignorance.  The rest, the ones who know better but still decide to act the fool?  Well, they’re not worth the calories.

If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance. — Meditations, Book VI

My Take – When you hold to your idea of what is and what is not, even when shown incontrovertible proof to the contrary, you move from the realm of knowledge into the world of belief.  Now, there’s nothing wrong with beliefs.  We all have them, but they’re not facts.  Every time someone, with respect and consideration, shows you a new way or tells you a new fact, you should evaluate its truthfulness, and if it passes the sniff test, incorporate it into what you know and what you do.  “We’ve always done it this way” or “That’s not what I was taught” are excuses to not learn, and once you stop learning, you start to stop living.  Old dogs learn new tricks all the time, they just have to remember that the old ways aren’t the only ways.

Have I done something for the general interest? Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop doing such good. — Meditations, Book XI

My Take – Knowing that I have done a good job is reward enough for me.  Getting thanked is always nice, but when I do well, I do it for my own satisfaction.