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Episode 14 – Why You Should F&%king Set Standards for Yourself

Under the Bodhi Tree

Episode 14 - Why You Should F&%king Set Standards for Yourself
Join Tommy P. on this chill & insightful podcast session about why you need to set standards for yourself. Learn from the mindset of the greatest & noblest Roman Emperor of all times, Marcus Aurelius.
Under the Bodhi Tree
Under the Bodhi Tree
Episode 14 – Why You Should F&%king Set Standards for Yourself
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Podcast Transcript

Snippet (00:00):

He could have wanted anything, anything, and he would have had it, he could have f&#ked 10 women each day, every day for the rest of his life, if he wanted to. And if you pissed him off, he can kill you. If you wanted to. He had that much power

Intro Music (00:19):

(light music)

Tommy P. (00:40):

Good morning, good afternoon, and motherf&#king good evening. Welcome to Under the Bodhi Tree with Tommy P. Today, I’m just going to talk a little bit about, uh, some things that I have on my mind in regards to setting up certain standards for yourself and living that standard, never deviating from the standards that you’ve set yourself in order to build your own confidence in order to build your own conviction in yourself and on yourself. So let’s get right into it. No f&#king ads, no nothing, no commercial. Let’s get right into the content on why you should set standards for yourself.

Greatest Roman Emperor (01:29):

I want to start off by talking about the greatest Roman emperor of all times, Marcus Aurelius. So let’s give you a quick backstory on how he became emperor, just real quick. At the time, there was a Roman emperor, his name was Hadrian. He was pretty much on his death bed or at least on the way to his death bed. And he was forced to pick somebody to succeed after him. So he really didn’t have any kids of his own. So he picked someone, he knew, Lucius Ceionius but that motherf&#ker died before he did. So he was forced to pick a second person, which he chose and Antoninus Pius. And Aoninus Pius did not have any child or kids of his own. He had two adopted kids, one by the name of Lucius Verus the other Marcus Aurelius.

Quick Backstory (02:32):

So I’ll try to spare you the history here real quick. Hadrian died. Pius took command Marcus and Lucius studied super f&#king hard in regards to philosophy the government and all that sh!t. And Pius died. Marcus and also Lucius became co-emperors. They ruled the empire at the same damn time, but Lucius died a little bit later on about eight years after Pius died. So Marcus was the sole ruler for 11 years from 169 to 180 A.D. Now, during that time, sh!t was hitting the fan. It was not an easy period. Alright, so a few years before Pius died, the empire was being attacked from all f&#king sides. The Parthian War lasted for about six years, from 161 to 166, even though they f&#king won the war, they brought back a plague that killed about 5 million people and the Guals were attacking them every f&#king where, and if that wasn’t enough, Christianity was on the rise and really assuming and increasing political power. It was a tough time. In spite of all of that sh!t during his time of rule, it was considered to be an age of peace and stability for the Roman empire, but that’s not the best part of him.

Why Marcus Aurelius Was So Awesome (03:58):

The best part of him on why I admire this man is that he was the epitome of great stoic philosophy living. You see, at that time, he was literally the God of the Roman empire, of literally the world. He could have wanted anything, anything, and he would have had it, he could have f&#ked 10 women each day, every day for the rest of his life, if he wanted to. And if you pissed him off, he can kill you. If you wanted to. He had that much power. Absolute power. The quote goes absolute power corrupts absolutely, but this man is the antithesis of that. He lived a life with great standards for himself and he never deviated from that. He could have done anything he wanted. He could have took all the money in the world and just pocket it if he wanted to, he can indulge and every desires that he had, but he did not.

Under His Time of Rule (05:13):

Under his time of rule, that time was guided by complete virtue and wisdom. Wow. I want to give credit real quick to professor Michael Sugrue. You gotta remember all the emperors that has gone before or ruled before Marcus Aurelius lived very scandalous lives and you cannot blame them because of the temptation at that level. However, Marcus Aurelius lived life in a way that was filled with virtue and wisdom, and he never allowed himself to disgrace himself. And he understood quite a few things. But the two that I want to mention is he understood that things that are outside of your control are exactly that, outside of your control, you can’t do anything about it. So there’s no reason for you to complain if you have no control over it. What’s the point, what really is the point of complaining about something that you cannot control? And a lot of people do this all the time, all the time.

Tommy P. Is Hurt (06:36):

And it hurts me to see that, like, why are you complaining about him, about her, things they’re doing? You have no control over that. So why worry, Marcus Aurelius knew that the only thing that you have control over is yourself, your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your actions, and that’s it. Everything outside of that, he is completely indifferent to, and you should be the same way. Things that are outside of our control is exactly that. Remind yourself, we all have that rational part of us that knows what is wrong and what is right. Believe in that, go after the feelings that are right and good. Don’t do sh!t when you know it’s corrupt and evil, or, you know, what’s going to make you feel like sh!t after.

Things That Are Within Our Control (07:46):

Things that are within your control do so with virtue. And in the end, you will always have this inner glow and inner peace about you. You understand that? Oh yeah, there’s a lot of sh!t going on in the world right now. And a lot of crazy stuff, but that’s outside of my control. So why should I care when I can’t change that? The only thing that I can change is me. The only thing I have control over is myself. And I intend to live that with the highest moral standard for myself, because I am good and I choose to live a good life and not indulge in temptations. I understand that exists, but I have control over myself.

Temptations (08:42):

And let’s talk about temptation itself. A lot of us are easily tempted, easily tempted to cheat, easily attempted to steal, easily tempted to react on impulse in a negative way. But let’s talk about Marcus Aurelius. His temptations, remember he was literally God of the known world at that time. And his temptation compared to us is 20 million thousand time folds, right? He literally owned everything. Anything he wanted, he got, if he wanted to be evil and inflict pain on the world, he could have, and no one could stop him, imagined temptation at that level.

Don’t Disgrace Yourself (09:42):

So I implore you to please live in a way as to not disgrace yourself. And you intrinsically know what is right and what is wrong. Go for the right feeling. You’ll be at peace with yourself. Temptations will come and go. But if you can’t have it, move on, if you can have it, go get it. But don’t overindulge when you know that it’s bad for you. Walk the f&#k away. 19 years, Marcus Aurelius rule as a Roman emperor. And he had to deal with these kinds of temptations for 19 years. And every f&#king time he went with the moral high ground and did the virtuous thing, doing the right thing. This is no common man. He, as to quote the professor, is a standing reproach to our self-indulgence.

F&#k It, Be Indifferent (10:45):

So again, I implore you to hold yourself to a certain standard. So you will have inner f&#king peace things that are within your control, control them, things that are outside of your control. f&#k it. I can’t do anything about it being different to it. Sure. You want the best for the world, but if it’s outside of your control, you can’t do sh!t about it. So they would be, Oh, right.

Conclusion (11:13):

So that concludes this episode, episode 14. Can’t believe it’s already episode 14. I’m telling you. I never would think I would make another episode again, but I guess people like the content and I’m very grateful that people love this kind of stuff. And today was actually the first time I actually incorporated a little bit more of history into my podcast and talk about the great man Marcus Aurelius in the future. I might do this a little bit more similar format on where I would talk about someone throughout history that is f&#king outstanding and learn from them, right? Why try to reinvent the wheel when you know, when it’s already there, don’t have to do that. Learn from people that had lived amazing lives so that we can also have a piece of that pie (Tommy P laughs). With that being said, I want to thank you very much to all of my listeners out there. I appreciate you. I really appreciate all the positive feedback that I’ve been getting. Um, it really melts my heart when I hear that, you know, my content is actually pretty entertaining and also insightful. Um, I just really, yeah, I feel it in my heart. If you like these kind of content, please check me out @ higherselfconcepts.com, that’s concepts, plural with an S, higher self concepts dot com. My website has similar content to what I do on the podcast as well, just higher self concepts, right? Just enlightened concepts and ideas that will improve you, your mentality, your life, how to enrich it and all that good sh!t. So if you found the content and the podcast to be of value to you, and it helped contributed to your growth as a person, or you gained some kind of insight to it, please think about sharing it with your friends. I want to reach out to a lot more people and really broadcast a positive message that happiness and fulfillment all comes from the inside. So until next time, have a great day, night, evening, whatever, and peace the f&#k out.

Outro Music (13:36):

(light music)

Tommy P.
Tommy P.

My very first thought when I became aware of my very own consciousness in this earthly world was... "whoa... why are we here? what's the meaning or purpose to life?" I was never able to shake these questions... So come join me on my podcast of rants on many different topics that will assist you in seeing things through a rose-colored lens and on living a life of well-being.

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