* INTRODUCTION:
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday is all about stoicism- living everyday life with the right mind. As we know, in life, there is duality- ups and downs, happiness and sadness, but the stoic and the students of stoicism cultivate the art of living with poise and virtue at all times. Disciplining the mind can be the hardest thing for us to do.
If we go into our minds it's like a perfect storm where thoughts are racing and competing to take dominance at the forefront of our minds. Or it can be compared to a chimpanzee in the wild wreaking havoc. Though it might look like a grueling task, once you've mastered the art of having a calm mind, it almost becomes your default mode.
Imagine all the things you can achieve, the relationships you can save, and the creativity that springs from a mind that's calm like a tame sea. No winds can unsettle those waves. No external event can spawn turbulence in a man who knows how to control his mind. Stoicism embraces these three disciplines- the discipline of perception, action, and will.
* THE DISCIPLINE OF PERCEPTION:
The discipline of perception is about how we see and perceive the world around us. "Hate is too great a burden to bear." If you are constantly reacting to external circumstances and events, you become a slave to them. Perceiving every event as NEUTRAL, instead of good or bad is key here. Circumstances are neutral and have no power over you unless you give them.
A wise person knows this and hence always sets out to balance his wavering and turbulent mind to a halt. No situation can overwhelm you without you giving it the power. And even if we know about it, we really don't know it till we've mastered the art of stoicism. "The thing that provoked you wasn't real, but your reaction was."
* THE DISCIPLINE OF ACTION:
The next foundational principle of stoicism is the discipline of action that deals with the decisions and actions we take. "When your efforts are not directed at a cause or a purpose, how will you know what to do day in and day out?" The actions you take depend on your end objective. What is your end objective? For example, do you want to pass the exam or ace the exam?
Your end objective makes all the difference in your life choices and daily actions. A person who wants to ace the exam prepares and lives differently than a person who wants to pass the exam. There is no right or wrong goal here, nevertheless, the goal is what determines your action steps. Big goals require big efforts and sacrifices.
"How will you know what to say no to and what to say yes to? You are driven into failure or worse, into madness by the oblivion of directionlessness." This quote says it all. Your entire life, the way you live it, what you pay attention to, what you sacrifice, and what you say 'NO' to, all depend on your end goal. So always have a goal. No need to be obsessively perfect about having the right goal. That can be tweaked from time to time, nevertheless, have a goal always.
* THE DISCIPLINE OF WILL:
The third principle of stoicism is the discipline of will- how we deal with things we cannot change. "The single most important practice in stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we can change and what we can't; what we have influence over and what we do not." This is very important because we all like to blame our external circumstances.
Even when all hell is loose, we have a part to play, a lesson to be learnt, action steps to be taken. So giving 100 percent control to outside events without taking any responsibility is not going to change anything in our lives, and as a matter of fact, will give us more to complain about. The thing in our control is our mind.
Viktor E. Frankl in his book Man's Search For Meaning said it best, "everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." If we master the art of controlling our minds, we enter into the realm of possibilities; nothing can and will stop us.
* CONCLUSION:
"Man is pushed by drives but pulled by values", and that is why stoicism is a must to learn subject for proper living. Stoicism should be taught in all schools and colleges as it lays the foundation for right living. What good do you get by developing your knowledge and skills in your particular field, but without knowing and learning how to live life?
If one does not learn and practice these stoic principles, one will never be able to master life or his career, relationships, and mental and physical health. Such is the importance of stoicism, yet no one's interested in learning them. My hope is that today you choose stoicism as your way of life and become the daily stoic.
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