I will talk about how the principles of Stoicism can help you live a more peaceful and intentional life.
Where Stoicism Comes from?
Stoicism is a school of thought and philosophy that comes from the Greeks and Romans from 2000-2300 years ago. It’s astonishing how these principles apply so much to modern life and can have a huge impact on ourselves.
The most influential stoics are the “Main Three Stoics”, and those are: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca The Younger, and Epictetus.
What are the main principles of Stoicism?
Stoicism teaches mainly to focus on what is within our control, outside events that are not of our control should not be our goals.
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Contrary to popular belief, stoicism is not about being emotionless or repressing our feelings. It’s much the contrary, it’s about accepting our feelings and not denying them, but simply not getting trapped in them so we can’t see reality for what it really is.
Another principle of Stoicism is discipline, but not a rigid discipline towards others and ourselves, our usual tough about discipline and how it “limits what we want to do”… It’s about self-discipline and the freedom that comes from it. From doing something every day that pushes us.
Freedom comes from doing the things that we should do and really want to do, instead of being trapped in feelings of apathy, pride, guilt, and grief, that block the way. That’s where freedom that so many people never even had the opportunity to taste comes from.
Lastly, they talk about how human Virtue, and how external things like money, success, fame, etc., are not either good or bad, are simply indifferent to human happiness.
Now we will see in what ways you can apply these principles
How can I apply Stoicism to my life?
These philosophies are very practical by themselves, and there are lots of ways we can start applying them and get the benefits from them.
Here are some of the ways that I use it that have helped me:
- When you find yourself getting frustrated or you feel a strong emotion, remind yourself that the reaction to the event that happened is within your control. You can’t control outside events but you can what is your reaction to them.
- Try to do something that pushes you every day. You build the muscle either way, if you break your promise you build that muscle, if you keep your promise you build that muscle.
- Don’t get caugh in goals that you can’t control like money, subscribers, etc. And instead, focus on inner goals and inside of your control. (example: Filming a YouTube video every week, instead of aiming for a certain number of subscribers or revenue)
What are the benefits of Stoicism
Applying stoicism can have a wonderful impact in a lot of areas of our lives.
Relationships
We will flourish in an ability to not get resentments, since we know that people and events can’t change how we respond and react, and ultimately feel. And the increased decision-making that comes from seeing things for what they really are.
Work and Vocational Goals
An increased capacity to do the things that we know will move us further in our vocational goals will arise, as we build the muscle of doing something that pushes ourselfs every day.
Having goals that are within our control not only will make ourselves more happy and enjoy the journey along the way, because even if we don’t achieve any external reward, we get the satisfaction from our inner goals, but will create astonishing results and success in our work.
Happiness and Satisfaction in life
The peace that comes from seeing things from their true nature and not being trapped in our emotions will give us a great sense of life satisfaction.
Resources (I want to learn more)
Here are a few more great recourses if you want to continue to explore stoicism and the stoics:
Book: Meditations by: Marcus Aurelius
Podcast: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
Thank you so much for reading along with me, and hopefully you got something of value here, Have a great rest of your day! 🙂
– Idris Moura.
