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February 13 - February 14, 2024
You can sum up Stoicism with one simple idea: you need to accept full control of and take total responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
Stoicism teaches that happiness comes from accepting each moment as it comes,
Stoicism states that an individual shouldn’t allow themselves to be driven by either fear or a thirst for pleasure, but instead should seek to understand the world in which we live, find and fulfil your place in nature, and work in harmony with others, dealing with them in a fair and just manner.
As Epictetus says, “Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well.”
The Stoics sought freedom from being ruled by their passions by using logic and reason.
Because you never know what might happen, Stoicism contains an important lesson on not relying on anything that is subject to change.
Throughout all this change, the only thing with the potential to remain unaffected is ourselves.
every day, we make a choice as to how we react and respond to things. It is the only real power we have.
It teaches you to pick yourself up after failure and guards against arrogance when things are going well.
“You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.”- Epicurus
social media means that many of us fall into the trap of believing self-promotion is more important than self-improvement.
To use Seneca’s words to illustrate this point, “No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it… the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.”
One of the more insidious effects of being in constant contact with the world at large is that we have very little time that is ours alone.
“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.” – Seneca
There are three main processes involved in turning the obstacle upside down. These are perception, action and will. Each of these feed into the other and helps you shift your reality to where you want it to be.
Perception is how you interpret and react to what happens around and to you.
Whatever happens to you, you take action by default. Even if you do nothing, this is still a form of action,
the real question is whether you have always taken the right action.
In order to follow a Stoic path, it is important you take consciously directed action, which is driven by purpose in order to get you to where you need to be.
will helps you comprehend where you need to be rather than where you want to be.
“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.” – Seneca
So, if nothing lasts forever, what’s really important? This moment right now. The
only thing that matters is being the best person you can be at all times.
As a Stoic, you should aspire to live in the moment as much as possible. In modern times, this is what many people call ‘mindfulness.’
The concept of Memento Mori involves reflecting on your own mortality.
From a Stoic perspective, however, if you have striven to live a meaningful life, there is nothing to be afraid of. Death comes to us all.
One of the most important aspects of living a Stoic life is recognising what you can and cannot change.
“Curb your desire—don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.” – Epictetus
As a Stoic, when you journal, you should consider what happened that day and what lessons you learned. You should also be thinking about the next day and how you can prepare for it.
Write every day.
Summarise your week.
Make a note of the biggest lesson you’ve learned that week and how you’re applying your Stoic
studies to your life,
Stoic practice known as ‘premeditatio malorum.’ Literally translated this means ‘the pre-meditation of evils’ and involves visualising everything that could go wrong or losing everything
‘negative visualisation,’
mentally prepare for the worst
this is not a negative thing because you’ve anticipated this and have the resilience ...
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Is a glass filled to half its capacity half empty or half full? To a Stoic, neither would be the case. The Stoic interpretation is that there is water
to drink, so be grateful for it.
Marcus Aurelius wrote, “A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it,”
Shortness of Life) discusses the fact that people waste a lot of their time engaging in meaningless pursuits.
Time is our most valuable possession. Spend it wisely
focus on what you can control and don’t worry about what you can’t.
whatever you are giving attention to is what is going to manifest the most in your life.
we should be doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not because we want to be applauded for it
Marcus Aurelius puts it, “Like the vine that produces its grapes, seeking nothing more once it has given forth its fruit…so the good man having done one deed well, does not shout it about, but turns to the next good deed, just like the vine turns to bear forth its fruit in due season.”
Regularly check your focus throughout the day so you only care about what you can control.
Heraclitus was a philosopher who had a huge influence on the Stoics. He wrote that “self-deception [is] an awful disease and eyesight a lying sense.”
Epictetus advised you to “see things for what they really are, thereby sparing yourself the pain of false attachments and avoidable devastation.”
Our perception doesn’t change reality, so it is better for us to be honest with ourselves about the world about us and take Plato’s view at all times.
