《沉思录·卷八·行事与本分》第36条
Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest expect to befall thee: but on every occasion ask thyself, What is there in this which is intolerable and past bearing? for thou wilt be ashamed to confess. In the next place remember that neither the future nor the past pains thee, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind if it is unable to hold out against even this.
注释摘要
在这段札记里，奥勒留处理的是一个极其常见却又根深蒂固的心理习惯：我们常常不是被眼前的麻烦压垮，而是被整个生命累积起来的想象中的苦难所吞噬。他在这里做了两步清晰的推理。第一步是把“整个一生”这个庞然大物拆解掉。他让我们就盯着眼前这一件自称无法忍受的事，然后反问自己：单就这一件事而言，它真的到了人完全无法承受的地步吗？他认定我们会在这样的审问面前感到羞愧，因为…