Day 18 · Q1: Self-Knowledge · January 18, 2026
Pause. Breathe. Begin.
I . L E C T I O
Marcus Aurelius
Meditations, Book II, §1
“Begin each day by telling yourself: today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness — all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil.”
C O N T E X T
Marcus wrote this as a morning practice — a pre-meditation on the difficulties he would face. Rather than naive optimism, he chose radical preparation: by expecting the worst, he could respond with equanimity.
I I . M E D I T A T I O
“What if you began each morning expecting difficulty — would it change how you respond to it?”
I I I . S C R I P T I O
Write one sentence about the interference you are most likely to encounter today.
I V . C O N N E X I O
Marcus returns with a practical tool: the morning pre-meditation. How does preparing for difficulty connect to Epictetus's dichotomy of control?
This practice exists because of readers like you.
Sustain it →Tomorrow's passage, delivered at dawn.