We all want more peace, right? More stillness. The quiet confidence that comes from being on the right path, as Seneca described it, and not being distracted by all those which crisscross ours.

Well, how do you get that?

It’s simple, Marcus Aurelius wrote. Stop caring what other people think. Stop caring what they do. Stop caring what they say.

All that matters, he writes, is what you do. Everything else is beyond your concern. You can let it all go. You can ignore it entirely.

We find tranquility when we stop stressing about things we cannot control, whose influence we are impotent to constrain. We find tranquility when we narrow our focus, when we look inward, when we look in the mirror. When we still the uncontrollable passions in our heads, hearts, and bodies.

Stillness is the key to a better life. The bad news is that there is only one way to get it. The good news is that it’s easy. You just have to stop. Stop caring what they think or say or do. Start caring deeply about what you do.

Stop…and start now.

P.S. This was originally sent on November 19, 2019. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.