It’s been exactly 6 months since I started practicing stoicism,and it was a life changing ride I took.Here I share the best lessons from the famous Seneca’s letters and Marcus’s Meditations,so you don’t have to read all through them.
1. “While it’s true that someone can impede our actions,they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes ,which have the power of being conditional and adaptable.For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into means of achieving it.That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action.The obstacle on the path becomes the way.”
- I learned not everything goes our way,we all had this experience,we plan everything perfectly and then our perfect plan doesn’t work.This made me angry and demotivated.But now I take every opportunity as a chance to learn a valuable lesson and practice it.
- Every glitch in our system gives us a chance to learn patience,to start over,and a chance to practice resilience.
2.“ No person has the power to have everything they want,but it is in their power to want what they don’t have,and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.” — Senenca,Moral letters,123.3
As John D.Rockefeller said “ a man’s wealth must be determined by the relation of his desires and expenditures to his income.If he feels rich on $10 and has everything he desires,he really is rich.”
Is the new apple iPhone 7s Red is what I want ?
No.Though I could afford it,it is not what I truly need or want in the long run.
- If I continue to buy whatever I want ,I will make a habit of it and then over the time If I ever could not afford something it will wreck my ego.
- If I had all the money in the world,I would buy everything my heart desires,and one day if the fate takes a turn and I am left penniless,though my mind processes the reality of my condition, my heart doesn’t comprehend that immediately,what I am left with is a desire so in-proportionate to my income that I now suffer from it.
3. “Think of the whole universe of matter and how small your share.Think about the expanse of time and how brief — almost momentary — the part marked for you.Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role.” — Marcus Aurelius,Meditations,5.24
- The likes,comments and shares makes us feel as if we are the next big thing,they act as a scale to measure our self worth .It makes us feel self-important.But,How much does one human life constitute ?The universe is immense.
- Consider this next time,You are just one person among many,doing your best and that’s what matters.
- I don’t ever let any kind of praise or success get to my head.
Thank you for reading all the way through,I would like to add to this as I practice and learn.
Originally published at medium.com