Book I

Meditation 3: Even though this was	Meditation 16: This one was much
a really short meditation it stuck with	longer but surprisingly didn't
me. It made me think of my mother	remind me of anyone except for
who influenced my eventual disbelief	myself or atleast how I wish to be
in God and therefore, in my mind,	and hopefully am becoming. I liked
set my cynical view of "piety." My	the notion of rewarding people how
mother also set my views on diet or	they deserved to be rewarded,
consumption of food in general. I've	without partiality. These days,
witnessed her eating habits and	people are given privilages just
have choose to go against them	because the are friends or family with
because I don't want to be like her.	people in authority. People win
She eats not to satisfy hunger but to	contests just because on the judges
satisfy emotion which or course	favors them. I don't believe this is just
cannot be truely satisfied by food.	but I, myself, am affected my bias
Lastly, my mother (again by showing	towards specific people. I wish to
what I don't want to do) has	change that. I also enjoyed the piece
influenced my disinterest in the	about how Marcus' stepfather neither
"ways of the rich." She buys things	loved living nor hated it. I like that
all the time that she doesn't need	view because it seems to be a
and like her problems with food and	reasonable way to look at life. I feel
"love" for God (as a means of social	that it means people should enjoy life
gains at church), it's annoyed me so	while it's here but shouldn't be upset
much so that I've also choosen not	when it's over. Thankfully I believe I
to follow her on this either. I don't	already show signs of doing this. Lastly,
buy many things. Here and there I	I will quote a part of this meditation
will waste money on things I don't	that seems to further explain my
need but generally I'm good about	previous comment on Meditation 3
saving money for needed things or	about my mother and religion. "The
spending reasonable amounts on my	behavior in fact of one who has an eye
few close friends. My mother on the	precisely to what it is his duty to do,
other hand goes way too far,	not the reputation which attends to the
especially with gifts for her beloved,	doing." My mother seems to do many
hastefully made friends. Altogether, I	things for the reputation that comes
wonder if Marcus Aurelius' mother	with it. She trys to make way too many
taught him piety, simplicity of diet,	friends as a means to becoming
and removal from the ways of the	popular because she seems to believe
rich, the same way my mother did	that be happy she needs everyone to
by showing what not to do or if she	like her. This just isn't so, in my
showed him by example, what to do.	opinion. Happiness in relationships
	doesn't come from the number of
	friends but from the quality of friends.

Book II

Meditation 4:This really stood out for	Meditation 10:I liked this meditation
me. It's something that I've seemed	because it appealed to my sense of
to have always know but never put it	justice. People who hurt others
to words. I do put things off and I've	because they were hurt by others are
had many days to get them done but I	usually forgiven because we as fellow
take those days for granted. The part	humans understand that we would
that says that my time is	pretty much do the same thing if we
"cicumscribed" just pushed something	were in their shoes. However, people
in me. Everybody has only a limited	that hurt others simply because they
amount of time to live and once our	enjoy hurting others are generally
time is up, it's over for us. You can	punished because we feel that
apply this to many things. Some	enjoyment at the expense of others is
people spend their lives wishing they	not a just reason for hurting people.
could be someone else, look like	Theoritically, if people only hurt
someone else, etc. but they never	people who have hurt them purposely,
realize that it can't happen. The only	then no one would ever hurt anyone
person they can ever be is	(except accidentially) because
themselves and they have to make	someone would of had to have hurt
the best of it and get on with their	someone purposely to begin with. If
lives. I used to always wish I could be	only this was how the world worked.
someone else or atleast look like	connects.
someone else but when I finally
realized I couldn't, yeah I cried a little
bit, but then I became a lot more
loving of myself. I guess I went a little
off topic but, in a way, everything

Book III

Meditations 2: I especially liked this meditation. I believe there is beauty in everything, even in flaws. Everything and everyone has flaws or unpleasant things about them but without them everything would be boring and mudane. The people I love the most are just as flawed as anybody else but I embrace their flaws because their flaws are what makes them who they are. There is also beauty in how everything coexists. The complexity of the universe, the simplicity of a color, the abstraction of emotions, all are so beautiful to me.

Meditations 13: I compared this meditation to the way a well-rounded education works. In a well-rounded education, a person is given a broad range of knowledge of which they can apply to their life in a combination of ways. For example, as a career, I want to teach philosophy and psychology to highschool students, however, I insist on taking class that have no direct corelation to my career of choice. I'm interested in taking classes such as photography, art, drama, math, home maintenance, sign langauge, and Spanish because I believe they will benefit my character. I believe they will make me a better, more interesting and adaptable person in the end and because I believe they are applicable to situations I may face in the future even though they have nothing to do with my career choice.

Book IV

Meditations 3: They only part I want to discuss of this meditation is the last sentence: "The Universe is change, life is opinion." Everything is always changing and people's lives are effected by these changes all the time. Some times unfortuanate things happen to people because of these changes and sometimes it's the other way around but what really matters in an individual's life is their opinion of their life. If they believe their life is great, the best it can be, then their life is. If they believe, however, that their life is horrible and couldn't get any worse, then their life is. That's why it's best to be realistically optomistic. I know my life could be better but I love what I have. If I lost special aspects of my life, I'd be sad for a while but I'm sure I'd move on and make the best of what I have left.

Meditations 15: This one created an image in my mind of sticks of incense instead of grains. I imaged several sticks of incense burning and one burns out before the rest and then another and another until they are all burn out. It doesn't matter which burns out first because they result is the same. To me the sticks of incense symbolize the lives of people. Some people die sooner than others just as some sticks of incense burn faster. The length of life means nothing, it's the quality of life the makes it worth living much like the quality of incense makes it worth burning.