I recently read a modern translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. This is a classic of applied stoicism and it's odd reading the words of someone two millenia dead. Two insights from the reading. First, Aurelius wrote for himself - the collected 'books' read like journal entries. They are largely repetitive reminders with recurring themes - how everyone dies, how people should follow their nature, not to make more of what is. These words were reminders, I think, from Aurelius to himself - so he could help manage his demons, all the infighting, yearning for self-achievement, pressure that comes with such a high station. Even the greatest of us struggle.
Second, I was surprised that the common interpretation of stoic philosophy as a stiff upper lip and repressed emotion was not what I was left with from the reading. The focus on the impermanence of us all, reminders that even the greatest people of one’s generation are quickly forgotten as they pass, felt much more evolved, even spiritual. A reminder to make the time we have count in ways that matter, to hold oneself to goodness, because the deeds themselves don't matter.