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Justice includes good-heartedness, integrity, public service, and fairness. It opposes the vice of wrongdoing or injustice.
Courage is about knowing how to act and feel correctly when facing fearful situations.
Courage includes bravery, perseverance, honesty, and confidence. It opposes...
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Self-Discipline (or temperance) is about knowing how to act and feel right, despite emotions such as strong de...
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Now, even though it makes perfect sense to say that you’re better at some of them and worse at others, for the Stoics, it’s always the whole package that counts.
Virtue is an all-or-nothing package.
if we think about it, this all-or-nothing package makes sense. After all, we don’t want to call a highly self-disciplined and courageous bank robber a virtuous person.
“Attention (prosochê) is the fundamental Stoic spiritual attitude,”
Thanks to this attitude, the philosopher is fully aware of what he does at each instant, and he wills his actions fully.”
An attitude of mindfulness
Character Beats Beauty
The Stoics would go a step further and claim that “character beats not only beauty, but also riches, power, and yeah, even the Joker.”
You should act virtuously because it’s the right thing to do and not because it will benefit you in some way or another.
virtue is its own reward.
Do good for othes not to benefit yourself but for the good of us all
“But the wise person can lose nothing,” Seneca argues, “their own goods are held firm, bound in virtue, which requires nothing from chance, and therefore can’t be either increased or diminished.”
Focus on What You Control: Accept Whatever Happens and Make the Best of It
As seen before, the root cause of emotional suffering comes from worrying about things outside our control.
Enjoy the Ride or Get Dragged Along
Events can give us physical pain, but suffering and inner disturbance only come from resisting what is, from fighting with reality.
This is from the book The Peaceful Warrior
This is fighting with the Gods, says Epictetus, things are as they are because that’s how it’s meant to be.
we should always focus on what is up to us; that way we won’t blame others, won’t resent life, and surely won’t fight with the gods.
Focus on what you control, and take the rest as it happens.
Stoic priorities—not even love should be traded if the price is the compromising of your character.
So the cards don’t matter, they’re neutral, indifferent. What matters is how well you play them.
In poker as in life
“If you want anything good, you must get it from yourself.” – Epictetus
areté alone is enough for the good life, and because it’s within our control, it makes us responsible for our own flourishing.
The victim mentality—blaming external circumstances for our unhappiness—on the other hand, will make the happy life an impossible goal to reach.
Changing outside events is impossible.
Changing your view about those events is possible.
So why not try to change what...
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Epictetus says, “the most excellent and superior faculty”—our ability to use reason—was
was also placed within our power, so that we can make “the right use of the appearances of things.”
The freedom of choice, or how the Stoics call it, reasoned choice,
External events are not what matters, but what you choose to do with them.
Step back and think about your response to the adverse situation befcore you act
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.” Epictetus’
External events basically carry no meaning at all, it’s how we perceive them, it’s our judgments that give them meaning and make them seem good or bad.
If you could let it be as it is, if you were able not to judge it good or bad but take it as it is (neutral, indifferent), then you wouldn’t have a troubled mind.
Be indifferent to the outfside events so the event does not control your happiness
there is nothing good or bad unless we choose to make it so,
we shouldn’t try to lead events but follow them.
Epictetus
Seneca says in the opening lines to this chapter, once the enemy has entered the mind, reason is gone.
Don't allow negative emotions take control of your mind. It is difficult to get back control.
when passion is at the steering wheel, reason is tied up and gagged in the trunk.
Epictetus referred to emotions as passions.
disappointment “is the spring of sorrow, lamentation, and envy; this renders us envious and emulous, and incapable of hearing reason.”
Passion comes from wanting something. Disappointment Comes from not getting what you passion.
negative emotions come from wanting and fearing what’s not under our control.
Stoics want us to pay massive attention to our every action?
Pay attention like you are walking on broken glass. Focus on each step.
classic ego-wants-recognition mind battle.
I like this term. Refer to it when feeling negative.
I observe the desire to check some news.
C hecking the news is viewed as a negative activity.
if time passes, Epictetus says, we forget what we’ve learned and end up doing the opposite, and hold opinions the opposite of what we should.
Keep practicing so you don't forget the rules of stoicism
Basically, we should be aware of our every step. As said earlier, we should watch ourselves like a hawk
Be aware of every action and step as though you were walking on broken glass
“The danger that you will spend your days pursuing valueless things and will therefore waste your life.”
Practicing stoicism will help you focus on things of value in your life
from Epictetus, too: “On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do not, for the most part, talk among laymen about your philosophical principles, but rather do what follows from your principles.”
Just be stoic without talking about it.
Don’t mention that you’re into Stoicism, just live by it.
