Watch your life. Marcus Aurelius 2.8
Watch
yourself carefully. Feel your own movements—emotions, thoughts, intentions,
regrets, reasons—and adjust the course of your expression
accordingly. This is simple advice, yet still profound, especially
when you consider how many of us spend time attempting to
psychoanalyze others. Marcus might say that was time wasted, unless
we used it to look inward, too. You can hear the Greek <here>.
Παρὰ
μὲν τὸ μὴ ἐφιστάνειν, τί ἐν τῇ ἄλλου
ψυχῇ γίνεται, οὐ ῥᾳδίως τις ὤφθη
κακοδαιμονῶν· τοὺς δὲ τοῖς τῆς ἰδίας
ψυχῆς κινήμασι μὴ παρακολουθοῦντας
ἀνάγκη κακοδαιμονεῖν.
If
we ignore the fact that we cannot understand what happens in another
soul, still it is not easy for us to get a clear view of someone else
suffering ill fortune. What is evident is that those who fail to
attend the movements of their own soul must suffer badly.