“It Is Up To You” – A Journey of Stoic Spirituality
In honor of Marcus Aurelius, author KJ Carleo committed to a over a year of voluntary solitary confinement—meditating for hours each day and fasting regularly—to write It Is Up To You.
Forged in disciplined isolation and rooted in Stoic principles, the book distills hard-won wisdom on taking full responsibility for your life, cultivating unbreakable inner strength, and mastering your mind no matter what circumstances you face.
This powerful guide offers practical insights for anyone seeking clarity, resilience, and true self-mastery in a chaotic world.
KJ CARLEO
/ Author
INTRODUCING
It Is Up To You
Non-Fiction$26.99
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Alone you consume yourself; in crowds, you vanish. I have learned how easy it is to disappear in both directions – alone with my thoughts, I can devour myself with criticism; surrounded by people, I can let their opinions swallow who I really am. I’ve watched myself shrink to fit a room, then watch myself fracture in the silence afterward. Somewhere between hiding and performing, my true self gets lost. I am choosing, slowly, to belong to God first, so I don’t have to be eaten by either my loneliness or the crowd.
You know this tension, too – the ache of being by yourself so long that your mind turns against you, and the ache of being with others yet feeling like you must trade pieces of yourself just to stay liked. It can feel like a choice between being consumed from the inside or from the outside. But there is another way. You are allowed to be with people without surrendering your center, and to be alone without abandoning your own kindness toward yourself.
Dear God, meet us in the spaces where we feel devoured – by our thoughts or by others’ expectations. Teach us how to be with ourselves in gentleness, and with others in truth. Anchor our identity so deeply in You that neither isolation nor approval gets to define us. Guard our minds from self‑attack and our hearts from compromise. Let our solitude be healing, our community be honest, and our belonging rest first in Your steady love. Amen.
For a long time, I misunderstood what it meant to love my enemies. I thought it meant forgiving those who hurt me or showing grace to people who didn’t deserve it – and it does. But one day, I realized the harshest enemy I had ever known lived inside me. My own self-criticism, my shame, my doubt – they were the voices I needed to meet with compassion. Learning to love myself wasn’t vanity; it was obedience to a deeper truth. Healing began when grace turned inward.
You may not realize it, but sometimes the hardest person for you to forgive is the one in the mirror. You’ve carried guilt, regret, or disappointment, believing love must be earned. But divine love moves differently – it starts within. The same forgiveness you offer others, you deserve too. To love yourself fully is not defiance; it’s sacred alignment. When you make peace with who you are, you silence the enemy within and awaken the wholeness God already sees in you.
Loving Creator, teach us to see ourselves through your eyes – whole, forgiven, and worthy of care. Help us extend to our own hearts the compassion we so freely offer others. Where we harbor self-judgment, plant gentleness. Where shame has taken root, sow grace. May your love within us heal the divide between who we are and how we see ourselves. And in learning to love ourselves, may we learn to love all creation more completely. Amen.
Today, I hold steadfast to the belief that miracles exist. I feel fully aware of the anchoring force of miracle-faith – clinging to divine possibility amid skepticism’s pull, where each affirmed belief acts as a vigilant sentinel, teaching me how unwavering trust invites heaven’s interventions into the improbable, fortifying my spirit against doubt’s erosion and unveiling patterns of providence in life’s hidden turns.
Hold steadfast to this belief today in your life. Affirm that miracles exist, learning its emboldening strength through circumstances that test your expectancy or logic’s limits. When evidence wanes or delays discourage, grip tighter – experience how it instructs with defiant hope, magnetizing breakthroughs and sustaining joy where resignation lurked. This isn’t wishful denial but battle-hardened assurance, where your miracle-belief becomes a catalyst, drawing supernatural reality into the fabric of your days.
Miracle-Affirming God, steel our grip on your wondrous reality today. Teach us through faith’s unyielding forge, ignite belief against every doubting gale, and unleash miracles that shatter the ordinary. May we stand unbreakable, lives thundering with supernatural proof – souls ablaze in the ferocious, heart-pounding triumph of miracles manifesting that declare your power unchallenged forever. Amen.
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