Welcome to episode two thousand nine hundred and seventy seven of the daily

meditation podcast. I'm Mary Mechley and I've welcomed you to day five of the

series we're exploring this week. Every week we focus on a theme and the title of

this week's theme is do less better and we're following along with the insight

of Marcus Aurelius the former Roman Emperor and also Stoic philosopher who wrote the book

Meditations which is a classic book still highly regarded today several thousand years later

after it was written. As always I'll share with you some insight and then I'll guide you in a

meditation. Your meditation will have you focusing on your inner truth today tuning into your

inner wisdom. The theme do less better has a lot to do with what you acquire when you meditate

and that is more clarity and focus so that you can do less better and I'm sharing with you

ways that Marcus Aurelius overcame extenuating circumstances as he was emperor of Rome.

He went through many challenges including a pandemic, several plagues,

political upheaval including war along the Italian border with the notorious barbarians of that

time who were the Germanic tribes. He also had many people trying to assassinate him

massive betrayals including from family members and also he had a lot of economic strain as he

was trying to fund the military so that he could keep the Roman Empire safe. Well he also

experienced health challenges. He struggled with health issues and his declining physical condition

likely influenced his decision making but his challenges became masterpieces. His declining

physical condition likely influenced his decision making and it made him very popular with the people

of Rome because they felt they could really connect with him because they too had been through

the plagues and the pandemic so they felt like they could relate to him better and he could relate

to them better. Despite his challenges Marcus Aurelius is often remembered as one of the five good

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