Anna, the mediations of Marcus Aurelius literally changed my life, they’re a cornerstone of my lifeview. It’s a intensely profound work of literature and incredibly relevant to modern existence, despite being nearly 2000 years old.

What you need to remember is that everybody in the entire world — bar none — is doing what they believe is in their best interest to survive. Their actions might not be morally, or legally correct, but they are the result of their experience of life, which could have been influenced by trauma, neglect, violence or many other things. Everyone is doing what they feel they need to, in order to survive in any given situation. Even the worst criminals in the world are behaving because they have a distorted view of life, which leads them to act-out in anti-social behaviours. That’s exactly why prison systems which focus on rehabilition are so successful, they make the assumption that inside every person is a noble soul, which has simply learned a defective way of behaving. If you can accept this, it becomes easier to view other’s actions with compassion.

Of course, if those toxic people are sat next to you, every day, then Darius’s advice about not having them in your life needs to be applied, which might be difficult, but ultimately, moving away will emancipate you.