A short Optimize +1 micro-lesson by Brian Johnson that reframes annoying experiences and difficult people as fuel for personal growth. Johnson invokes Stoic ideas—especially Amor Fati and a Marcus Aurelius quote—and leads listeners through a short repeat-after-me mantra to mentally 'throw' a current challenge into a symbolic blazing fire to transform it into flame and brightness.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Have you ever had an experience that annoyed you? Ha. Or perhaps a particular person who seems particularly skilled at annoying you? Ha times two. Me too. Ha times three. So I'm currently experiencing one of those moments with a particular individual who shall remain anonymous. We'll skip the details and focus on how we can use those inevitable experiences and individuals as additional fuel for our antifragile fires. Remember that recent discussion we had about the Stoic medallions? One of those coins featured a beautiful fire on the front, along with the powerful words Amor Fatih Amor Fati. Nietzsche coined that. It means to love you your fate. We'll talk about Joseph Campbell's thoughts on that wisdom soon. Today we're going to talk about one of my new mantra prayers to explain why he put a fire on the front of their Amorafati coin. Ryan Holiday tells us to consider this wisdom from Marcus Aurelius. I quote, A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that that is thrown into it. Think about that for a moment and if you feel so inspired, repeat after me. A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. Now let's bring to mind a current challenge you might be facing. Got it? Awesome. Now throw it into your fire. That's today's plus one. Let's make flame and brightness out of everything today.
