According To Wes
Finding the humor in everyday life and trying to understand what that means to me.
Join me on this never ending journey of self improvement and reflection with the help of friends.
According To Wes
Morning Privilege, Daily Peace
Ever wake up to a wave of pressure before your feet hit the floor? We offer a Stoic counter move: start the day by naming four privileges—being alive, to think, to enjoy, to love—and watch how anxiety softens while purpose sharpens
Welcome back to the According to West Podcast, the podcast that explores the timeless wisdom that helps us find peace and purpose in our daily lives. I'm your host Wes, and today we're diving into a beautiful, life-affirming quote from the Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius. The quote, when you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love. This isn't just a feel-good sentiment. It's a powerful psychological and philosophical practice. In a world where it's it's so easy to wake up and immediately feel a uh a sense of dread or to be overwhelmed, you know, thinking about our to-do lists, our anxieties or our frustrations. Um Marcus Aurelius with this quote, he he offers us a different path. Um, this quote tells us to begin our day not with a sense of burden, but with a profound sense of privilege and gratitude. So, as always, let's unpack this morning ritual and discover why a simple shift in mindset at the start of your day can fundamentally change the course of your life. The first part of this quote is a direct challenge to our most common morning habits. We often wake up and immediately feel a sense of obligation. We have to go to work, we have to get the kids ready, we have to face our problems. That's me every day. Obligation. No kids right now, but it's it's get to work, finish this, finish this, finish this, start this, start this, start this. And it's usually house projects and you know uh editing. Uh hopefully the listeners, you guys like the editing. Um forever trying to get better at that, but I digress. Um, Marcus Aurelius in this quote, uh, he asks us to reframe this. He asks us to see our existence not as an obligation, but as a privilege. A privilege is a special right or advantage. When you see your life as a privilege, it changes everything. For an example, the the not the the privilege to be alive. This is like the most basic and profound form of gratitude. Simply being alive is not a guarantee, it's a gift. Countless things had to go right for you to exist in this moment. Thinking about this puts all of our daily anxieties into a proper perspective. In addition to that, the the privilege to think. Uh the privilege to think is uh is a tribute to our consciousness and our capacity for reason. Emphasis on the reason. We we have the ability to solve problems, to learn, to contemplate, and to create. This is what sets us apart, and it's a profound gift we often take for granted. I think the uh the privilege to think is such uh underrated privilege because uh uh we often don't think we often don't think we often don't know the uh the effects of not being able to think and work things out and organize your chaos. Um we often don't know what that can do for us. Um I've been in plenty of situations where just kind of like always want to go, or plenty points in my life where I'm always wanting to something's always happening, or I'm always getting hit over the head with life stuff, and I don't have the time to actually just uh process and analyze and see what I did right and see what I did wrong. Um and it's only up until you're granted that time or just that privilege to actually assess things where you you know you start to make needed changes, you start it, you start to have growth within yourself. You you right the wrongs, you know what I mean? Um you fight your demons, you you you face your insecurities. Um that privilege to think is everybody's life isn't perfect, but that one privilege, like I said, organizing your chaos. Doesn't mean you got it all right and got it all figured out, but you gotta you got a handle on it. You have control over it. It's one of the privileges I value I value with everything that I have. Another uh gift we take for granted is the just the the the privilege to enjoy. This this reminds us of all the small and large joys in life, the warmth of uh of a cup of coffee, the beauty of a sunrise, the beauty of a woman's naked body, the pleasure of a good book, the laughter with a good friend. Life is filled with these moments of enjoyment, and thinking of them as a privilege makes us more present to them. Now I must say, uh that's what I'm learning to tap into more and more as the as I get older. The privilege to enjoy like yo. Naked a naked woman's body, like, is there anything more beautiful than that? When you think about it, as a man, hell, as a woman, yo, it's could I imagine life without being able to experience that? No. And speaking of uh the uh naked woman's body, uh the the thing that we all can't live without is just the privilege to love. Um this is perhaps the the greatest privilege of all. It's the ability to feel love and to give love to family, to friends, and to our partner. It's our deepest connection to others and our greatest source of meaning. By focusing on these privileges, we shift our mindset from a scarcity and burden to abundance and gratitude. This mental shift is the foundation of a good day. This quote can be a powerful solution to two of the most common mental pitfalls, which are anxiety and complacency. So much of our anxiety is rooted in a focus of what's missing, what could go wrong, or what we don't have. This practice of mourning gratitude holds our attention away from fear and towards the abundance of life. By focusing on these privileges of life, we build a mental fortress that is hard for worry and fear to penetrate. We are grounded in the present moment, filled with a sense of peace. Seeing life as a privilege also inspires us to act with a sense of purpose and urgency. When we take our lives for granted, we become complacent, we procrastinate, we neglect our health, we take our relationships for granted. When we remember that life is a privilege, it inspires us to make the most of every day. We don't want to waste this precious gift. It's a call to action, not a reason to be passive. This simple morning thought process is a two-way street. It gives us inner peace and it motivates us to live with intention. There's been countless times where I let anxiety and fear um get into the get into the way of the the privilege that I have to actually live the life that I live. Um with me it comes from just being extremely too hard on myself. Um to the point where it's like, hey, you're supposed to be doing this, this, and this, yeah, you you reached this goal, but this is where you ultimately want to be at. And I don't I don't recognize or acknowledge not even the small wins, but the the steps and the process along the way is a win. It's ultimately a win because some people don't even get this far. Um and that's something that I definitely have a hard time with doing and acknowledging within myself. And it's like a it's like a never-ending, spiraling pit of doom when it comes to that. Because I'll have that mindset, and then I'm like, okay, well, I'm not where I need to be, or this isn't done to the way it needs to be done, or the way I think it needs to be done. Or yeah, it'll be that. And then, okay, what's the next step? And I'm like, well, damn, that's gonna take a lot of time, or that's gonna take this, this, and this, or I'm not sure if I have the tools for that yet. And then that's when the procrastination comes into play. Because you're like, it's gonna take so much time, or it's gonna take so much energy to do that next step, that I procrastinate on that next step. Then I get scared of complacency. Then I'm fearful that I'll never finish what I need to finish. Uh that's my biggest uh my biggest issue with uh not recognizing the the privilege of life, the privilege to live that I have. That it is a journey. It's not it's not a sprint. There's gonna be ups and downs, highs and lows, bumps along the way. Um that I'm definitely working to be better at. Every day that you're alive is a win. Every day, every day that you move forward towards a goal or uh uh a passion fulfilling what you think is your uh your destiny is a privilege. There's a lot of people that don't get to even see or start simple things like hey, I saved $500 today, I put $500 in a bank. Some people don't have $500 to put in a bank. It's like simple stuff, like but as a whole, how do how could a person you know put that in the forefront of their their mind their everyday their everyday to to acknowledge or to bask in the privilege of life. The first thing we do in the morning sets the tone for our our entire day. Before we reach for our phone, before we check our emails or social media or our stock options. You know, take a moment. As soon as we wake up, we can take a f the few deep breaths, we can close our eyes for a minute and mentally run through those privileges in the quote. You can expand upon them. Like, I'm alive, uh the sun is shining, I have my health, stuff like that. I have a cup of coffee to enjoy, I have a family to love, I can give a kind word to a friend. Another way, which I don't know how some of you guys will probably feel about this. Uh creating a gratitude journal. I haven't heard the word journal in a long time since the uh the Doug Funny days. If you're old enough, you're old enough, you know who Doug Funny is. But another this could be another effective way to make this habit a good habit and is to keep a gratitude journal by your bed. Write down three things you are grateful for each morning. Lastly, sharing your gratitude with others can amplify its effects. A simple text to a loved one saying, I'm grateful for you today, can not only make them feel good, but can also reinforce your own sense of gratitude. The quote, when you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love, is a timeless and simple prescription for a better life. It reminds us that our greatest source of peace and happiness is not found in external circumstances, but in our own internal attitude. By beginning each day with a sense of privilege and gratitude, we are not just making our day better. We are fundamentally reshaping our minds. We are building a fortress of inner peace that is resilient to the inevitable challenges of life. It's a practice that shifts us from a state of obligation to a state of purpose, and from a state of anxiety to a state of profound contentment. I want to thank you guys for joining me on this episode of the According to West Podcast. Until next time, may you find peace and purpose in every day.