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Among them are the opinions we form, the decisions we make, or, simply put, our actions.
What happens around us is not up to us. The position we take towards the outside world is up to us.
Marcus Aurelius repeatedly states that life is best lived in accordance with nature or “as nature requires”.
That indifference is power, the Stoics know very well. Life is short. That’s why it’s important to channel our life energy towards essential and important things and leave unimportant things be.
“..that one wants nothing to be different, not in the future, not in the past, not for all eternity. Not only to endure what is necessary, still less to conceal it, all idealism is falseness in the face of necessity, but to love it.”
The problem of the anxious part of ourselves is that it’s a control freak. I can attest to that.
Control freaks simply cannot handle insecurity. They are stuck in the dreadful absurdity of trying to figure out what cannot be figured out, and with repetitive attempts they keep trying nonetheless.
It fully embraces fate no m...
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Amor fati doesn’t mean that we should sit in an armchair all day letting life pass by. It means that we make the best
It means that we work towards our goals, give them our all, but, when the results turn out to be different than expected,...
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When things can’t go wrong, there’s nothing to worry about. When there’s nothing to worry about, the fear of the future won’t sap our energy and make us feel miserable. By unconditionally embracing our destiny, we have nothing to fear.
Unoffendable: The Art of Thriving in a World Full of Jerks.
The real winner is the one who prevented serious damage from being inflicted, like a wound, or a broken leg.
When the insulter tells the truth, what’s the point of getting upset about it? After all, it’s the truth.
What people throw in your direction is not up to you. Getting offended, however, is a choice. If we let go of the nastiness that people throw at us, we’ll travel lightly through life, so we can spend our energy on things that truly matter.
“Never say of anything, ‘I have lost it’; but, ‘I have returned it.’ Is your child dead? It is returned. Is your wife dead? She is returned. Is your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise returned? ‘But he who took it away is a bad man.’ What difference is it to you who the giver assigns to take it back?
let the tears flow; be human first, and when the initial shock subsides, let’s see if Stoic philosophy can be applied as a bandage to the wound.
Fear comes from resisting this occurrence.
Desire breeds aversion and aversion breeds desire.
So, ‘letting go’ in this case means letting go of what we don’t have. Sure, we have our thoughts about the past and the future, but what are thoughts but the fabrication of the mind? They don’t represent the world around us. They’re mere illusions, fantasies, calculations, memories. The mind is a great tool.
“..for it is equally devoid of self-control, regardless of decorum, forgetful of kinship, obstinately engrossed in whatever it begins to do, deaf to reason and advice, excited by trifling causes, awkward at perceiving what is true and just, and very like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes.”
on anger
You can stick a knife in someone and pull it out, but no matter how often you apologize, the scar will be there forever.”
power of reason. Moreover, when we resort to using force, we
when we are about to throw a tantrum, it’s always good to ask ourselves the following question: am I
doing this from a place of power or a place of powerlessness?
But Seneca compared anger to drunkenness; in a battle, angry fighters have no control over their movements, like drunks.
Eventually, their rashness leads to defeat by a more intelligent opponent that isn’t led by the passions, and thus, acts with greater mental clarity.
Nevertheless, by having patience, we become a companion of time.
Another solution is forgiveness, which works better when it comes to long-term (cold) anger. When we forgive, we can finally permit ourselves to let go of the grudges that we’ve been carrying around for so long.
during times of crisis, it’s particularly important to recognize our connection and set our egos aside to help a fellow human, relying on our ability to forgive and tolerate, instead of solely engaging in selfish pursuits.
When we deal with our fellow humans, we’ll undoubtedly be confronted with people that are selfish, irrational, overly emotional, mean, violent, greedy, hostile, and intolerant. Some people are in full panic mode and go overboard when it comes to taking measures to protect themselves.
Things that seemed so normal and stable have suddenly become uncertain.
“Change and flux constantly remake the world, just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity. We find ourselves in a river. Which of the things around us should we value when none of them can offer a firm foothold? Like an attachment to a sparrow: we glimpse it and it’s gone.”
“Worse than war is the very fear of war.”
“The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered.”
The more we are attached to these externals, the more we are disturbed by the prospect of losing them. The truth is, one can be perfectly happy and content without them.
We can influence the future by our actions in the present, but the results are so dependent on external circumstances that it’s impossible to guarantee a certain outcome.
If we can cope with death, we can also cope with life.
Panic gets us nowhere as it’s a state of emotional turmoil during which we throw our rationality overboard.
So, when we’re faced with a wide variety of opinions, the strong language of influencers, and decisions based on fear and greed, it can be difficult enough to find direction and maintain the course.
When we are ruled by the issues of the day, we lose sight of the bigger picture.
What’s new and scary now will be old and familiar tomorrow.
“No matter what happens, keep this in mind: It’s the same old thing, from one end of the world to the other. It fills the history books, ancient and modern, and the cities, and the houses too. Nothing new at all. Familiar, transient.”
All this comes down to seeing things as they are, as much as possible, and doing the right thing based on rationality instead of fear.
When we panic, we are often inclined to act unintelligently and in ways that only make things worse, or overlook the things that need to be done.
Also, we may want to keep in mind that the media are companies motivated by profit, so they recreate and inflate reality by constantly focusing on sensational topics that attract attention.
