“Frame your thoughts like this — you are an old person, you won't let yourself be enslaved by this any longer, no longer pulled like a puppet by every impulse, and you'll stop complaining about your present fortune or dreading the future.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.2
February 2, 2021 7:00 AM
Marcus Aurelius is referring to our impulses and not letting them enslave us any longer. These can be challenging behaviors to address as we can mindlessly act on impulses. We may not even recognize we responded on an impulse until much later.
We can examine what desires and judgment can assist us in handling our impulses. Have impulses to eat junk food? Don't purchase junk food. Your impetus is to shop? Put a note on your credit card that challenges you, "do you need this?".
Conclusion
While impulses may be subconscious actions, we can free ourselves from these forces by taking control. We can take control of actions and emotions and free ourselves from being puppets to our impulses.