Meditations 6.32:

“I am composed of a body and a soul. Things that happen to the body are meaningless. It cannot discriminate among them.

Nothing has meaning to my mind except its own actions. Which are within its own control. And it’s only the immediate ones that matter. Its past and future actions too are meaningless.”

This is hard stuff. This is graduate-level “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

You control your mind and how it responds to whatever happens.

Between stimulus and response there is a gap. In that gap is your ability to choose your response. It’s not easy to mind the gap, so to speak, but we get to try again and again all day long every day.

But only the present moment matters. Only the present moment is real. Past and future are phantoms.

This moment is where life is.

Your mind is the portal and the instrument for living.

Right here. Right now.

Live now in the full power of your ability to choose—to choose your attitude, your actions, your thoughts.

You have little control over how long your body will keep your mind in the game. (Eat well. Do your pushups. Don’t sit too much. Don’t drink and drive or text and drive. Avoid doing stupid things.)

Live while you can. And live wisely, in sync with your nature.

Seize the day.