Practice Stoicism
For thousands of years, the ancient Philosophy of Stoicism (practice stoicism) has offered guidance and solace to people from all walks of life. It can help with everything from dealing with the ups and downs of life to improving our relationships with other people.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
If a stoic is going to take the time to prepare for the worst, they’re going to make sure they’re ready for anything. So what can you do? First, get out a piece of paper and draw out your ideal future. What does it look like? What would it feel like if that happened? Then, write down all of the worst things that could possibly happen in your life and how you would react if those things did happen.
Now here comes the fun part: put those two lists side by side and compare them! Which one is longer? If your ideal future list is longer, great! That means there’s still plenty of room for improvement in your life; but if it isn’t much longer than your “worst case scenario” list (or even shorter), then maybe it’s time to start making some changes.
Meditation and the Practice of Stoicism are one and the same.
Stoicism is the practice of meditation and mindfulness. Although it may seem counterintuitive, practicing stoicism will help improve your mental health and well-being.
Stoics were encouraged to live in the present moment, be mindful of their emotions, understand themselves better by learning how their mind works, be more focused on things that matter most in life (the big picture), and focus on what they can control rather than what they cannot control. These are also some behavioral characteristics associated with modern-day psychologists who use Stoicism as a form of therapy for mental health issues like depression or anxiety.
So how can you Practice Stoicism this ancient philosophy? The first step would be by finding time every day to meditate or do some sort of mindfulness exercise whether it’s through traditional meditation or simply focusing on one thing at a time throughout your day without distractions (such as phones).
Stop complaining.
If you’re not already doing it, start making an effort to stop complaining about your problems. It’s likely that the majority of your conversations are spent complaining about something or someone—whether it’s a colleague at work, your significant other, the weather, or even just yourself. All this complaining is sapping away at your happiness and energy levels while also making you more susceptible to negative emotions like anger and frustration.
Work hard in Practice Stoicism
That’s it? Well, yes and no. You can’t just work hard and expect results in the long-term unless you also have a plan of action. To be honest with yourself about this, ask yourself this question: If I were given a machine that automatically generated money for me without having to do any work for it, would I continue working? Or would I quit my day job to spend more time with friends or family? If your answer is “yes,” then congratulations! You are probably not a Stoic because Stoics love their work so much that they would continue doing it even if all their needs were met by an outside source.
There are many ways people can get ahead in life—keeping fit (physically), being social (emotionally), learning new skills (mentally)—but working hard at one thing consistently is probably the most reliable way to achieve success if we look at historical case studies across all cultures. For example, Steve Jobs was obsessed with making Apple products better than anyone else’s even though he had health issues due to his passion for perfectionism; thus he created revolutionary products like the iPod and iPhone that changed how we listen music today and communicate digitally respectively!
Persist endlessly.
Finally, persistence is key. You will fail many times before you succeed. When that happens, you need to persist even when you don’t feel like it. Persistence is a skill that can be learned; try making a list of things you’d like to achieve and then keep at them until they’re done.
The Stoics believed in finding “good” in everything—a concept known as “negative visualization”—and this can be applied to your everyday life by looking for the positives in every situation while still being prepared for the worst-case scenario so that if something bad does happen, it won’t be such a shock (or hit so hard). For example: If someone says something means about your work or appearance or whatever else happens to upset us on any given day; instead of getting angry or upset about how unfair life is sometimes (which doesn’t help anyone), remind yourself that every situation has its upsides as well as its downsides and if something goes wrong today then there’s always tomorrow—or next week—or next month etcetera ad infinitum!
Use negative visualization.
A negative visualization is a tool that can help you visualize and prepare for the worst-case scenario. It’s something we all do naturally, but it’s easy to forget about when we’re not consciously doing it.
Let’s say your best friend is flying over to visit you. You’re looking forward to catching up, but what if their flight gets delayed? Or even worse, what if they don’t make it at all? What if they get sick while traveling and don’t recover in time? Or how about this: What if you fall out with them and they never want to see you again?
These are all things that could happen in real life—we just don’t know when. But by imagining these scenarios as vividly as possible beforehand, we can arm ourselves against them happening unexpectedly later on (and possibly stop them from happening altogether).
Take responsibility for your actions.
You’re responsible for everything in your life. Don’t blame others—your parents, the government, random people on the street—for what happens to you. You have to take responsibility for your actions and their consequences. Even if something goes wrong in a situation that really wasn’t your fault (like getting into a car accident because someone else ran a stop sign), admit that you made mistakes leading up to the accident: maybe you were following too closely or didn’t check traffic before pulling out onto the road. By taking responsibility for mistakes and looking at them objectively without bias of any kind (including self-blame), we can learn from our past experiences and improve ourselves as people moving forward into new situations where similar errors could be made again in the future. In this way, stoics remind us not only that every individual plays an essential role within society but also how each person’s actions have consequences both large and small across time scales ranging from seconds on up through generations.”
Don’t blame anyone else for your problems.
You might think this is a good time to blame someone else for the problem, but it’s not. Blaming others won’t actually help you solve your problems. In fact, it’ll just make things worse because:
- You’ll waste time and energy that could have been better spent on solving the problem yourself.
- You’ll feel worse about yourself and your situation because you’re focusing on how much things suck instead of thinking about how to improve them (and actually doing something about it).
- You’ll be less likely to actually take action toward solving the problem since you’ve already convinced yourself that someone else is responsible for fixing everything wrong in your life instead of just taking some responsibility for whatever isn’t working out as planned (and doing something about it!).
The ancient philosophy of stoicism can have tremendous benefits for you if you Practice Stoicism regularly
In a nutshell, Stoicism Is a Philosophy that teaches you to accept life as it comes. It teaches you to be resilient in the face of adversity and calm, cool and collected when things get too hot under the collar. Stoicism also teaches rationality and logic, encouraging individuals to live according to their own goals rather than society’s expectations. If this sounds like something that could help you with your daily challenges—or just change your life for the better—then read on!
Conclusion
And there you have it, the MINDSET of a stoic. I know what you’re thinking: “man, that was a lot to digest.” And it is! But if you take anything away from this exercise, let it be this: if we can apply our modern understanding of stoicism and mindfulness in our daily lives, we’ll be happier and more productive. After all, who doesn’t want more time for themselves?