What the Colosseum Taught Me About Timeless Resilience

This past June, Sara and I spent time in her home city, Rome. Like many tourists, we found ourselves exploring the city’s iconic landmarks during our first week, taking in the monuments, sculptures, and art that have stood the test of time. Among them was the Colosseum—a structure that has endured for nearly two thousand years, weathering wars, natural disasters, and the relentless passage of time.

Standing in the presence of this ancient marvel, I couldn’t help but wonder: what truly stands the test of time for us as human beings? What is as true for the people of ancient Rome as it is for us today? What is equally relevant for a slave laboring on magnificent Roman structures as it is for an employee working a 9-to-5 job in modern times?

For a farmer traveling from village to village in ancient times, the world may have seemed vastly different compared to the life of today’s entrepreneur navigating the digital marketplace. But despite the differences in environment and lifestyle, the core experience of being human—our joys, struggles, aspirations, and inner life—remains unchanged.

I keep coming back to one fundamental truth: we live from the inside out. 
Our thoughts shape how we experience life. We often believe the illusion that we live from the outside in—that our circumstances determine our happiness, success, or well-being.

If you’re like me, the inner voice sounds something like, “I’ll be happy when I get that promotion,” or “I’ll feel secure once I make more money,” or even, “Things will be better once I read that book or go on that seminar.” But these “when” moments never seem to bring the lasting fulfillment we expect.

The reality is, nothing outside of us has the power to dictate how we feel. Just like two people standing in front of the same monument can have entirely different experiences—one feeling INSPIRED by its grandeur and history, while the other feels indifferent or bored—our experience of life comes from our thinking, not from the external world.

This insight is as true today as it was in ancient Rome. Two people could have been laboring side by side on the Colosseum, but experiencing that work in completely different ways. One person may have thought, “I’m wasting my life moving these heavy stones.” The other may have thought, “I’m contributing to something extraordinary that will be remembered for generations and I get to be a small part of it!”

The grand illusion is thinking that our experience is shaped by external events, when in reality, it’s always an inside job, it always has been. When we recognize that our thoughts are the filter through which we perceive the world, we start to see that our experience is created from within. We can find peace in any situation, just as the Colosseum remains steadfast through centuries of change.

So, what does this mean for us today? For those of us who may feel stuck, unfulfilled, or constantly striving for something more, the Colosseum serves as a reminder that the stability and clarity we seek are not found by changing our circumstances. They are accessed by understanding how our experience is created.

When we shift our focus from trying to manipulate the outside world to recognizing the power of our inner world, we see that well-being is already within our reach. Our resilience, like the stones of the Colosseum, is unchanging and enduring. The thoughts and feelings that pass through our minds are just weather—temporary and ever-changing—but our core remains steady.

What would change if you recognized that you already have the resilience you’ve been searching for? How would life feel if you didn’t need circumstances to change in order to experience peace and fulfillment?

The truth is, you don’t have to wait for the world to “get better” for you to feel okay. The same inner strength that has always been with you is there now, ready to be rediscovered.

Like the Colosseum, the timeless truth of living from the inside out stands strong, no matter what life throws at you. The world around us will continue to change, but our capacity for peace, clarity, and resilience endures.

What if the real transformation occurs not when the world changes, but when our understanding of it deepens?

#AttentionArtist #InsideOutLiving #TimelessTruths #Resilience #MindsetShift