Premises
Stoic meditation consists in rehearsing the challenges of the day ahead, thinking about which of the four cardinal virtues (courage, equanimity, self-control and wisdom) one may be called on to employ and how. âpremeditatio malorum,â a type of visualization in which one imagines some sort of catastrophe happening to oneself (such as losing oneâs job), and learns to see it as a âdispreferred indifferent,â meaning that it would be better if it didnât happen, but that it would nonetheless not affect oneâs worth and moral value.
Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: âIs this the condition that I feared?â â Seneca - - - Seneca once said: The most important knowledge is that which guides the way you lead your life. âDonât just say you have read books,â said the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. âShow that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.â Make yourself familiar with the things, the worst-case scenarios, that youâre afraid of. Observing individuals who lead a creative life, we can identify elements of expertise, grit, an understanding, and passion. Whatâs easy to overlook is the inner system within an individualâthe set of principles that govern their mind and behavior. When failure ensues or the need to adapt is necessary, how does one respond? What do they tell themselves? In other words, whatâs their philosophy? Not only does philosophy teach us how to live well and become better humans, but it can also aid in overcoming lifeâs trials and tribulations. Some schools of thought are for more abstract thinking and debate, whereas others are tools that are immediately practical to our current endeavors. The Stoics focus on two things: How can we lead a fulfilling, happy life? How can we become better human beings?
The goal of Stoicism is to attain inner peace by overcoming adversity, practicing self-control, being conscious of our impulses, realizing our ephemeral nature and the short time allotted. Epictetus was born a slave at about A.D. 55 in Hierapolis, Phrygia, located in the eastern borders of the Roman Empire. Early in his life he had a passion for philosophy, and with permission from his owner, he studied Stoic philosophy under the master Gaius Musonius Rufus. After Neroâs deathâthe fifth Roman emperor who ruled with tyranny and crueltyâEpictetus began to teach philosophy in Rome and then later in Greece where he founded a philosophical school teaching Stoicismâamong his students was the future emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius was born in A.D. 121, considered one of the greatest Roman emperors to have ever lived, and wrote in his journal during the dull moments of a war campaign. In his journal, which inadvertently became the book Meditations, served as reminders for Stoic principles that focused on humility, self-awareness, service, death, nature, and more. Seneca was also a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, a tutor and advisor to Nero. His work involves dozens of essays and 124 letters that involve topics like education, friendship, civil duty, moral obligation, humility, self-awareness, self-denial, and more. He had many admirers like Montaigne, Tom Wolfe, Emerson, and John Stuart Mill. Without a philosophy to guide our work and life, we will relentlessly succumb to our excuses and distractions. We will make the comfortable mistake of acting on our moods (âIâm just not feeling it todayâ) and not on our principles.
Acknowledge that all emotions come from within âToday I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions â not outside.â â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations It is not outside forces that make us feel something, it is what we tell ourselves that create our feelings. A blank document, canvas, or unmarked to-do list is not inherently stressfulâitâs your thoughts that are stressing you out. Many of us want to place blame and responsibility on external objects because itâs easy to do, but the truth remains that all conflicts start internally, in our minds. When we flee from realityâa deadline, an urgent emailâwe are doing nothing but harming ourselves and undermining our self-discipline. The next time you run into an obstacle and feel resistance, donât look at whatâs around you. Instead, look within. It is not outside forces that make us feel something, it is what we tell ourselves that create our feelings.
Find someone you respect, and use them to stay honest âChoose someone whose way of life as well as words, and whose very face as mirroring the character that lies behind it, have won your approval. Be always pointing him out to yourself either as your guardian or as your model. This is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves. Without a ruler to do it against you wonât make the crooked straight.â â Seneca, Letters From a Stoic When I first started my blog and called myself a writer, who could I look up to? The courses at my university were irrelevant to my aspirations and desires. Luckily, the Internet provided access to great writers, their stories, work, and admonishments. I can point to someone I respect and say, âAh, look at the value they provide, their work ethic, their platformâthat is worth learning from.â Whatever you doâcreate apps, draw portraits, write books, or make animation filmsâthere are individuals that you can learn from. You can study their story, works, techniques, successes and failures. You can listen to interviews or even reach out to them by sending an email. You can discover patterns of success and apply it to your life. Whatâs important to realize is that this isnât an exercise of comparison. If you donât get a book deal in eight months or if your product doesnât hit #1 in the first week, like your role model, that doesnât make you a failure. Instead, how can you learn from your heroes? How are their teachings and principles helping you grow, learn, and create? Everyone, no matter how successful they are, has heroes/mentors to look towards.
Recognize there is life after failure âDoes whatâs happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all other qualities that allow a personâs nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.â â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations You can spend months or even years on a project, only to watch it be criticized, or worse, ignored. I once worked on a project thinking that it would do fairly well. I spent an entire year on it, and it was my most vulnerable work to date. The outcome was similar to having a baby and all the doctors laughing out loud, saying, âMy goodness that is an ugly baby.â Thatâs what failure feels like when you share a part of you. But recovering from that failure is a practice, a mindsetâin fact, the lessons that I internalized from that experience is helping me do better work. The thinking goes: No failure, no growth.
Read purposefully, and apply your knowledge âDonât just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.â â Epictetus, The Art of Living Reading books on marketing or business or creativity will supply endless dots that have potential for connection to develop a more in-depth awareness, but what will ultimately make you effective at that craft is by applying it. Reading prepares your mind, even helps you avoid foolish mistakes, but at the end of it all there must be the result of some action: a failure, maybe a success, or a lesson. The purpose of education is to internalize knowledge but ultimately spark action and facilitate wiser decisions. Reading self-help books will, in that moment, make you feel inspired for a change. But are you following your principles when you have a troll, rude customer, or angry stranger in your face?
Challenge yourself to be brutally honest ââA consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation.â This remark of Epicurusâ is to me a very good one. For a person who is not aware that he is doing anything wrong has no desire to be put right. You have to catch yourself doing it before you can reform. Some people boast about their failings: can you imagine someone who counts his faults as merits ever giving thought to their cure? Soâto the best of your abilityâdemonstrate your own guilt, conduct inquiries of your own into all the evidence against yourself. Play the first part of prosecutor, then of judge and finally of pleader in mitigation. Be harsh with yourself at times.â â Seneca, Letters From a Stoic
Itâs important to be mindful of the urges that obstruct us from showing up, engaging, committing, and being present. âWhy, exactly, am I feeling this way?â Get to the bottom of that. Investigate it. Dissect it. When you feel resistance, use that as a cue to go forward. The challenge, of course, is training yourself to think that way.
- Reflect on what you spend the most time on
âA key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. Youâre better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.â â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
In my own observations, people who do excellent work, who master their craft, do so because of their ability to prioritize. They honor every hour of their day. If we put cameras behind our heroes, would our work ethic compare? Our focus? Our determination to get things done?
- Remind yourself: you werenât meant to procrastinate.
âAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: âI have to go to workâas a human being. What do I have to complain of, if Iâm going to do what I was born forâthe things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? âBut itâs nicer hereâŠ
So you were born to feel âniceâ? Instead of doings things and experiencing them? Donât you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And youâre not willing to do your job as a human being? Why arenât you running to do what your nature demands?
âBut we have to sleep sometimeâŠ
Agreed. But nature set a limit on thatâas it did on eating and drinking. And youâre over the limit. Youâve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There youâre still below your quota. You donât love yourself enough. Or youâd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When theyâre really possessed by what they do, theyâd rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.â â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- Put the phone away and be present
âNothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a manâs ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.â â Seneca, Letters From a Stoic
Throughout your day find a moment, however fleeting, to just sit and be still. Doesnât matter where you are. Take a few deep breathes, put your phone on vibrate so thereâs no chance of interruption, and just reflect on the series of events that took place throughout your day. When youâre working, be ruthlessly present. Let your mind focus on the task at hand, what youâre trying to accomplish, and do it with diligence, patience, attentiveness, and care. Sooner or later, youâll realize how much of an asset this is to your creativity and overall quality of life.
- Remind yourself that time is our most precious resource
âNot to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While youâre alive and able â be good.â â Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
It provides a sense of urgency, to realize that youâve lived a certain number of hours and the hours ahead of you are not guaranteed as the ones you have lived. When I think of this I realize that everyday truly is an opportunity to improve, not in a clichĂ© kind of way, but to learn to honestly appreciate what we are capable of achieving and how we are very responsible for the quality of our lives.
This makes our self-respect, work ethic, generosity, self-awareness, attention, and growth evermore important. The last thing any of us wants to do is die with regret, hence why following principles of Stoicism puts your life into perspective. It humbles you and should also deeply motivate you.
In the words of Seneca, âWe should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical applicationânot far far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speechâand learn them so well that words become works.â
The way we lead our lives and do our work must embody the principles that we practice. Less comparing, criticizing, and consuming; more creating, learning, and living.
Our reactions
A basic principle of stoicism is that we can influence the world around us, and we cannot always control what we feel or think, but we can always control how we act.
wrote:
Itâs not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. - Epictetus
Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. - Victor Frankl
We cannot control everything that happens to us, but we can manage how we react.
Links
- http://ryanholiday.net/stoicism-a-practical-philosophy-you-can-actually-use/
- http://fourhourworkweek.com/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/