Hi everyone and welcome to the guided meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I'm your host, John Stillman. This episode is a daytime episode about control for those that are interested in identifying things that are outside of their complete control to reduce stress. If you're new to the podcast, the daytime episode is meant for you to listen in the morning or in the middle of your day as opposed to right before bed. If you want to listen to the control episode right before you go to bed, you want the nighttime episode. So before we get started, I highly recommend listening to the journal episode on control if you haven't already done so. The reason for that is it's going to help you put some definition around this topic as how it relates to your life. Okay, let's go over some ground rules. First off, understand that this is a kind of meditation episode. This podcast is designed to help you relax to a very deep level. So you should only listen to it in a place where you would feel comfortable sleeping for at least the next 30 to 45 minutes. Do not listen to this while you are driving or sitting on a bus. Otherwise, you can potentially injure yourself or someone else, or you might miss yourself. Be mindful of where you listen to this and pick a place that is safe for you to do so. I would also highly suggest going to the toilet before we get started because that can become a huge distraction. If you need to do that now, just hit pause and come back after you're done. Honestly, I'm always looking to improve these episodes. So if there's a particular sort of principle you would like to implement into your subcontracts in the future, let me know in the comments and I will do my best to make an episode on it going forward. So with that out of the way, let's get started. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Listen carefully to sounds that you may hear around you. Are there sounds of people? Sounds of animals? Maybe even sounds of wind or traffic. Not all of those sounds are important for you to hear while you're listening to this. Things that are alerting you of an emergency are important. But any other sounds can actually help you sink deeper into relaxation. So let those unimportant sounds drift into the background, away from your awareness, and let them help you reach deeper down into a wonderful relaxed state. The unimportant sounds fade away into background noise and let them do their job to help you relax. As you continue to relax, I'd like you to imagine your center core. The center core is different for every person, but it is wherever you feel is the center of your body. Some people believe it's in their solar plexus, and some people feel it's in their forehead. But wherever you feel is the center of your body, I'd like you to imagine that spot now. Now imagine what it might look like to pull all of your energy deep down into your center core. Whatever that might be like for you, you decide. Now imagine that you have little bits of energy in different places. You've spent time over the last twenty-four hours, and imagine pulling all of that energy back from those places and pulling it deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body. And imagine floating to the wall that's in front of you. Imagine touching it and feeling the texture with your fingers. Then float back to your body and pull yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall behind you. Imagine touching the wall there. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall on your left. Imagine touching the wall there. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall on the right. Imagine touching the wall there. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating down to the floor. Perhaps to look up at yourself. Wonderfully relaxed. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the ceiling if there is one. Or maybe ten feet into the air if there's not. Then imagine floating down back and forth like a feather. Down and down and back and forth as you slowly drift down. And imagine pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. And while you may notice that your mind is already doing what it does. Making sense of things in a logical way. There's nothing mysterious complicated happening here. We're a leaf. This is floating sequence. One step leading naturally to the following every sentence. You don't have to try to relax. You can let them wash over. Effort isn't required at all. Like warm water, your only time is noticeable that you're hearing words. Perhaps notice you become aware of your body. And notice that understanding happens automatically. Without effort. Without effort. That's how your mind works. Without instruction. Now, consider the simple fact of settling when your body still snowfalling. The mind has fewer variables to the ground. And when the mind has fewer variables, it becomes more efficient until everything feels more receptive. You may already observe small changes. Longer pauses between thoughts. In the roll sense of completion as its own natural rhythm. It's not something you need to control. Creating a simply the natural outpeat. Your breathing is a good example. Your arm. You don't calculate all the way down. Yet it follows to you. A predictable rhythm. You might imagine a place where time feels wide and unhurried. Place where nothing is expected of you. Where I can simply be just like breathing. Colours follows rules too. Or textures. Muscles that are not released of safety and comfort that are not required but doesn't need work into the background. Your mind does recognize image efficiency and efficiency feeling. Now or not. You may find it interesting because to me, even drifting, that while one part of your mind is listening to these words, you may notice that thought another part begins already checking them. Like or accuracy being said here makes changing shape. You are safe. In dissolving. You are in control. And you are simply allowing a temporary shift in attention. There's no need, nothing is being lost. Hold on to anything. In fact, awareness becomes beneath you more precisely knows how to support. You may notice that feels slightly different. Knows how to carry sound faster or skill. Your mind just less important. Oh just sync. And as each sentence completes itself. There some people notice to hold on to it. A pleasant heaviness. Your mind can release a light and move to the next one. That's how systems work. That's spread at a time exactly where it's needed. Without analyzing it too deeply, you just recognize this. Where nothing has to be your conscious mind can rest, where nothing is fixed, everything is functioning exactly as it should be. And allow yourself to continue listening. And efficiently in its own as this process continues. Now without needing to do anything at all, you can allow this experience to deepen naturally. Nothing to fix. You may begin to notice a general sense of release. No longer need to be. And that release can spread not in any particular direction, just everywhere it's welcome. Imagine slowly turning down a dial, just one small adjustment at a time, each turn softening the overall experience, making everything quieter, lower, more subtle. With each breath, you may notice a subtle shift. Not dramatic, just enough to feel that you're moving further inward. And right now, attention can become effortless. Thoughts don't need to stop. They can simply lose importance. Like background noise that fades as something calmer moves into the foreground. Now imagine a gentle downward movement, not physical, more like a feeling of depth. As if awareness is sinking into a softer, quieter layer of experience. Each moment builds on the last, like steps that descend so smoothly, you hardly notice moving until you realize you're already deeper. If numbers come to mind, they can drift downward now slowly, comfortably, each one marking a deeper level of ease. Four slowing three less effort, more comfort, two almost no need to think at all. And one simply being here in this state. Everything unnecessary has already fallen away. What remains is calm, steady and receptive. You're happy to stay right here because this level this quiet, settled space is exactly right for whatever comes next. And you can allow yourself to rest here now comfortably, peacefully, as the work continues. Consider this now gently. There are many things in your life that are outside of your complete control. The weather, the economy, the past, other people's opinions, other people's moods, other people's choices. The world moves as it moves. And yet there is something that always remains within your complete control. Your judgments, your intentions, your choices, your response. The distinction is quiet, simple, but powerful. The Stoics understood something deeply freeing. Suffering multiplies when we try to control what is not ours to control. Peace begins the moment we return to what is. Imagine just for a moment how much mental energy is spent replaying conversations, predicting outcomes, imagining worst-case scenarios happening. Notice how the body tightens when the mind tries to manage what it cannot command. Now imagine something different. A pause, a small internal question. Is this within my complete control? Not my influence, not my preference, not my hope, my complete control. If the answer is yes, you act with clarity. If the answer is no, you release it, not with indifference, but with wisdom. Feel how light that is, because when you focus only on what is fully yours, your effort, your preparation, your character, the mind becomes steady. You build excellence in action instead of chasing outcomes. You refine your integrity and no longer fear options. You meet reality and no longer resist it. The subconscious begins to understand something important. I do not need to control everything to feel safe. I only need to govern myself. Imagine a future moment. Stressful email, a difficult conversation, an unexpected delay. And instead of Reacting automatically, you pause, you breathe, and you quietly ask, What here is truly mine? You notice that your tone is yours, your reaction is yours, your emotion is yours, your effort is yours, your honesty is yours, your discipline is yours. Everything else you allow to unfold. This is not passivity, it is strength directed correctly, like a skilled archer who focuses only on aim and release. Over time the mind begins to prefer this clarity. More clarity, more steadiness. You begin to feel a quiet confidence growing. No matter what happens, I remain in command of myself. And that is enough. So imagine in the coming days, small moments of remembering. A thought begins to spiral, and you gently redirect it. An outcome feels uncertain, and you return to effort. Not forced, not rigid, simply practiced. And each time you do, you feel a subtle relief, a lightness, a sense of inner order. The mind quietly learns, this works. I will return to what I can control and let go of what I cannot. And in this space, there is calm. Now, in a moment, we'll begin the natural process of returning attention outward again. There's no hurry, just a smooth transition from inward focus to present awareness. Everything that's useful from this experience can remain easily available, integrated, settled, ready for you, and anything else can simply stay behind, no longer needed. You may begin to notice the sense of the space around you, the quality of the air, the sounds that are part of the room, the feeling of being here, now. Awareness can start to expand gently, like light increasing at dawn, not sudden, just clear and natural. In a moment, I'll count from one up to five, and with each number, alertness can return comfortably, bringing clarity, balance, and ease. One, a gentle shift outward as attention begins to re-engage. Two, energy returning at a comfortable pace, like waking from a satisfying rest. Three, clearer awareness now, present and steady. Four, feeling refreshed, oriented, and well. Five, eyes open if they've been closed, fully awake, calm, clear, and comfortably alert. Take a moment to settle. There's no rush to speak or move. Just notice how you are right now. And when you're ready, you can continue with your day, carrying this sense of steadiness and ease with you. Thanks for listening and making me a part of your stoic practice.