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The Daily Stoic

The Practicing Stoic

Meditations

How to Be a Stoic

I really liked this one, H/T mindyourbusiness:

The Stoic Challenge

 

Feb 26

“Another has done me wrong? Let him see to it. He has his own tendencies, and his own affairs. What I have now is what the common nature has willed, and what I endeavor to accomplish
now is what my nature wills.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.25

It’s easy for me to get righteously angry when I feel I have been wronged. Today, I got cut off by a car in a hurry to get in front of me, so he wouldn’t get stuck behind a big rig. I was a little ticked because I had to slam on my brakes so he wouldn’t rip the front off my car. I could have acted stupidly in return, but I told myself, he must have a good reason to act like that and forgot about him.

 

Feb 27

“Of all the things that are, some are good, others bad, and yet others indifferent. The good are virtues and all that share in them; the bad are the vices and all that indulge them; the indifferent lie in between virtue and vice and include wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, and pain.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.19.12b–13

What is good is within my power to control, if I make proper choices. What is bad is also within my power to control, if I make poor choices. Indifferent doesn’t mean it has no effect on my life, just that I do not control them and should not worry about them. Easier said than done sometimes.

 

Feb 28

“The soul is like a bowl of water, and our impressions are like the ray of light falling upon the water. When the water is troubled, it appears that the light itself is moved too, but it isn’t. So, when a person loses their composure it isn’t their skills and virtues that are troubled, but the spirit in which they exist, and when that spirit calms down so do those things.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.3.20–22

If I get mad, which sometimes I do, that doesn’t mean I throw up my hands and say “well, this doesn’t work.” I need to be able to recover and use what I have learned, even though I still backslide sometimes.

 

Mar 01

“An important place to begin in philosophy is this: a clear perception of one’s own ruling principle.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.26.15

 

If I want to control myself better, I need to start with an understanding of hat I am trying to accomplish and then I know what to work on and what to improve.

 

Mar 02

“Above all, it is necessary for a person to have a true self-estimate, for we commonly think we can do more than we really can.”
—SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 5.2

I need an honest view of my strengths and shortcomings. I am good at ignoring big things I can’t control. I still get flash anger when I am trying to do things and there is something in my way, or I can’t find a tool I need. It is difficult to admit I have shortcomings, because I do have a pretty high opinion of myself.

 

Mar 03

“These things don’t go together. You must be a unified human being, either good or bad. You must diligently work either on your own reasoning or on things out of your control—take great care
with the inside and not what’s outside, which is to say, stand with the philosopher, or else with the mob!”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.15.13

If I am constantly fighting myself and vacillating between doing right and doing wrong, the stress will tear me apart. I will continue to work on my internal choices and not let things outside of those control me. Anger at things I can’t control is always lurking.

 

Mar 04

“The person is free who lives as they wish, neither compelled, nor hindered, nor limited—whose choices aren’t hampered, whose desires succeed, and who don’t fall into what repels them. Who wishes to live in deception—tripped up, mistaken, undisciplined, complaining, in a rut? No one. These are base people who don’t live as they wish; and so, no base person is free.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.1–3a

By this measure, I am not free. I go to work everyday with people that believe every left wing talking point without question. I do not say anything, because I like my job and the generous paycheck. However, I do not live in deception, if I am asked I give an honest answer, I merely live in silence. Maybe I am thinking too hard on this one. I am definitely not a base person as they are described here, and I do not feel as though I am tripped up, mistaken, undisciplined, complaining, or in a rut.

 

A little Shooter Jennings for today:

Arrested for marijuana.

Shot some cops.