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Hi everyone and welcome to the guided meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I am your host, John Stillman. This episode is a nighttime episode about virtue for those interested in making more virtuous choices when opportunities present themselves. If you're new to the podcast, a nighttime episode is meant for you to listen to right before you go to sleep, as opposed to in the morning or the middle of the day. If you want to listen to the virtue episode and get on with your day afterwards, you'll want the daytime episode. Before we get started, I highly recommend listening to the journal episode on virtue if you haven't already done so. The reason for this is it will help you put some definition on how the topic relates to your life. Okay, let's cover some grounds. 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 whether 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 some contest in the future, let me know in the comments and I will do my best to make an episode on it going forward.

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So with that, let's get started. Close your eyes. Listen carefully to sounds that you may hear around you.

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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 slope 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. And now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. 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 is. You might notice how it's processing information itself organizing ideas can feel soft, making sense of things in a logical way. There's nothing mysterious happening here. We're a leaf. This is floating gently past one step leading naturally to follow 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 to notice. Finding notice 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 is snowfalling. The mind has fewer variables to memory. The ground. And when the mind has fewer variables, it becomes more efficient. Until everything feels more receptive. You may already observe small changes. Your breathing now. Longer pauses, rolling in thoughts in the rolls of completion as its own natural rhythm. It's not something you need to control. Creating a simply the natural outpee. Your short is a good example. Your arm. You don't calculate it all the way down. Yet it follows to your predictable rhythm. You might imagine a place where time feels wide and unhurried. Balance. Place where nothing is expected of you. Where you can simply be just like breathing. Colours 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 image efficiency and efficiency feels take its place now. Or not. You may find it interesting because to me and drifting that while one part of your mind is listening to these words, you may notice that thought another part begins. Everything being said here makes shape. You are safe. In dissolving. You are in control. And you are simply allowing a temporary shift in attention. Nothing is being forced. There's no need, nothing is being lost. Hold on to anything. In fact, awareness beneath you more precisely knows how to support. You may notice that the tire feels slightly different. Knows how to carry sound. Your mind just less important. Out to sync. And as each sentence completes itself. There's no notice to hold on to it. A pleasant heaviness can release a lightly to the next one. That's how systems work. 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 needs fixed, everything is functioning exactly as it should be. And allow yourself to continue how the comfort continues to unfold and efficiently in its own as this process way. And 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 is something deeply consistent across all moments of your life, across calm days and difficult ones, across success and uncertainty, across ease and challenge. There is always one question quietly present. Who will I choose to be in this moment? The Stoics understood something profoundly steady. A good life is not built on circumstances. It is built on character. Not occasionally, not when it is easy, but moment by moment. And virtue is not something distant or abstract. It is simple. It is lived in small daily choices. Honesty, patience, discipline, courage, fairness, self-control. Not perfection, but direction. Now imagine for a moment how often the mind is pulled away from this. And in those moments, it is important to remember. Imagine a situation that repeats in your life. A moment where you are tested. See it clearly and notice the familiar pull to react automatically. And now gently interrupt that pattern. Pause. Breathe. And ask, what would the best version of me do right now? Maybe it is patience instead of frustration. Maybe it is honesty instead of avoidance. Maybe it is discipline instead of delay. Maybe it is courage instead of hesitation. Feel the shift. Taught something quietly powerful. You do not control whether life is easy, but you do control whether you act with excellence. Imagine now living this way more often, not perfectly, but consistently. A small decision here, a small correction there. Each time returning to the same question. What would the best version of me do right now? Notice something important. Virtue organizes you. It steadies you. It removes inner conflict. Because when your actions align with your values, the mind becomes quieter, stronger, clearer. Feel the quiet strength in that. A kind of inner stability that does not depend on outcomes. Because whether things go well or not, you know something important. You acted well. And over time the mind begins to learn. This is who I am. This is how I live. Guided by principle. Something subtle begins to grow. A quiet confidence. Self-respect that does not need approval. A sense of integrity that follows you everywhere. Because each time you choose virtue, you reinforce something deep inside. I am someone who can be trusted by others and by myself. Now imagine in the coming days, small moments of remembering. Choice appears, and you see it clearly. A reaction begins inside you and you redirect it. Each time you do, you feel it. A subtle strengthening, quiet alignment, a growing sense of inner order. The mind begins to prefer this. More clarity, more discipline, more calm strength. So in the coming days, notice those moments, the small decisions, the quiet opportunities, the unseen choices. And each time gently ask, what would the best version of me do right now? And then do that. It is who you are becoming. And in that there is strength. In that there is clarity. In that there is peace. And the mind learns, virtue is enough, and I choose it. Now this experience can begin to gently complete itself. Nothing needs to change very much. Just a small shift, enough to notice the present moment while still remaining wonderfully relaxed. Everything that's been helpful can remain quietly in place, continuing to work on its own without effort or attention. Just allow awareness to float slightly closer to the surface. You may notice the space around you in a soft, distant way. Not sharply, just enough to recognize where you are. In a moment, there will be a simple choice to reach out to turn off the podcast and then let go back to sleep again. There's no rush. And after the podcast ends, there's nothing else to listen for, nothing to follow. You can simply rest, drift, and sleep deeply and comfortably as your mind and body continue to settle on their own. Two, just enough alertness to do what you need to do. And nothing more. Three. And as soon as you do, you can allow yourself to think right back into sleep.

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I will talk to you again soon, but