Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (June 21, 2020)

Hello there,

This week I will seek inspiration from Marcus Aurelius. Let’s go back to some basics and remembering what is truly good or bad, so as to refocus our efforts and energies. This is from his Meditations VI 41:

“But if we judge only those things that are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.”

Over the past few months, I have been asked to give specific Stoic tips on how to deal with the pandemic and isolation and uncertainties we are living through. They have ranged from selective ignorance to keeping a schedule so as to maximize our time and focusing on improving those areas in life we never “had the time” to do so before, among many others. The one thing they all have in common, however, is that all the effort is internal and focused on being the best, most virtuous version of ones’ self.

Stoicism is not synonymous with passivity. It is a philosophy of approaching life, and all its ups and downs, in the most rational way possible. Rationality, of course, means being logical, intelligent and ethical. These are all qualities that are internal and relegated to your thoughts. We say it time and time again, but we tend to forget very quickly that all that is external to our thoughts are irrelevant to whether we are being good people, living a good life worthy of living. 

So this week as a practical exercise, take inventory of all the good things that happened in your day…then a list of all the bad things… and look through the list. Do you see a pattern? Have any, most or all been related to externals? What you did or didn’t get accomplished, completed, gained, etc? What someone else did? What fate brought at your door or took away?

What about what you thought, intended and judged? These last few are the only things you should focus on because these are the only things that you have control over with 100% certainty over their outcome. Therefore, they are the only things that could and should be used in evaluating how good/bad a person you are or how good/bad a life you are living.

Reach out and share what you were falsely focused on, or how you changed your focus. And don’t be shy. We are ALL guilty of this. This is part of our learning curve and growth in this journey towards our respective “best” versions of ourselves.

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)