The morning appointment

Marcus Aurelius would open his day by telling himself he would meet the ungrateful, the violent, the deceitful, and at once recalling that they go astray for want of telling good from ill, that they are kin to him through reason, and that none can harm him in what is truly his. Anticipating the day's frictions this way defuses anger before it forms: you are no longer caught off guard, and you replace irritation with understanding.