Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - summary and quotes:
https://wisdom-for-life.com/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius-life-lessons/

Stoicism 101 - https://youtu.be/T6eGT0s4-Oo
Purpose and values - https://youtu.be/Swp3yAjVTdA
Acceptance - https://youtu.be/pWhbLQ5qD-c
Simplicity - https://youtu.be/hQNaGNz1FSA
Dealing with others - https://youtu.be/U0BrC4wfZqE
Opinions of others - https://youtu.be/dZcxRrlbHPo
Thoughts - https://youtu.be/ChMAzsxtxaw
Failure - https://youtu.be/q_YJzCEaxEg
Solitude - https://youtu.be/wGReSKKYJpA
Oneness, nature, and change - https://youtu.be/zeLoRginpqY
Judge - https://youtu.be/bjV_4U4lLSM
Death - https://youtu.be/Boo9rBvxKAY
Solitude and meditation - https://youtu.be/V_yFchRw1Y0
Gratitude and paying it forward - https://youtu.be/yFVP2hfy3Uo
Purpose part 1 - https://youtu.be/_48xbZzicq0
Purpose part 2 - https://youtu.be/auxkZcgHw5U

It's no doubt that our emotions are much more persuasive than our rational
mind. I mean, in the heat of the moment, we listen and act on our feelings a
lot more often than our logical mind. Right?

Let's be honest. we've all been to that place where you just lose your mind and go absolutely ape shit. And then after a little while, after you've cooled down, your rational mind kicks in and says, uhhh, whoa dude.. you shouldn't have done that!

Look at your daily decisions and you will see that we are constantly driven
by our emotions. They dictate much in how we live our lives, but is that a good thing?

Sometimes we act on the wrong emotions or we act on our emotions too quickly, and that often leads to decisions we regret down the road.

So, how should we handle emotions?

Some emotions are great and we should get swept away in them. Joy, love, bliss, and so on. What we need to be more aware of are the negative emotions like rage, anger, bitterness, envy, and so forth - we need to learn how to handle these with great care. If you don't control these emotions, they will take over your mind and your life.

We all know someone who is seemingly angry all the time, right? What's happened is that they have let their negative emotions spiral out of control and they now run their life.

Don't let your anger and frustration get the best of you. Have the courage, strength, and nerve to remain gentle and calm during intense situations.

Anger and frustration are really just signs of weakness. They are signs of someone who is out of control, like the person who is angry all the time. Strive to be in control of yourself. What does that really mean though, to be in control of yourself?

Well, Stoics believe that we can't control outside events and we can't even control our emotions 100% of the time, but what we can control is our opinions that lead up to an emotion.

Opinions are different from emotions because you can control and influence them. What's interesting is that many of your emotions are caused by bad opinions.
So, in an indirect way, you can control your emotions to a certain degree.

Let's look at an example:
My truck was stolen. This sucks! I'm so pissed.

1 - My truck was stolen is a fact.
2 - This sucks is an opinion.
3 - I'm so pissed is an effect of the opinion.

So, don't try and control your emotions, try to control the opinions in step 2 that lead to those strong emotions.

Again, you can't control outside events. All we can control is how we respond to the different things that happen to us. Between stimulus (truck being stolen) and response (this sucks), there is a gap, and in that gap is where we have the ability to choose how we respond. That is our greatest freedom! That is where you decide how you're going to live your life.

It's all about how you view what happened to you. Learn how to look at seemingly negative events as opportunities - opportunities for growth. Find the good, find the silver lining in all situations. It takes practice, but learning how to turn adversity into triumph is huge. It shifts your whole life story from victim to creator.

This doesn't mean suppressing your emotions. You don't want to repress emotions, but you also don't want to be a slave to your emotions. Emotions are a good thing. We should value and enjoy them. They bring excitement into your life. They are real and important and it's a good practice to be in touch with your emotions so you can have more self-awareness.

We should, however, try to minimize irrational emotions and spend more time on the good ones. It is ok to be upset or sad from time to time, just make sure your opinion is really warranted before moving into an emotional state. Experience emotions as they come, but don't let them take over.

Now that you some idea on how to better manage those emotions, I also suggest that you find a healthy outlet to release emotions because emotions should never be bottled up.

Thanks for watching!