Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (May 23, 2021)

Hello there,

Work. Work. Work. Work. Work.

Work. Work. Work. Work. Work

All we do is work. We work at work to make a living. We work at home to make a nice living space for ourselves and our families. We work hard at school to get good grades as an investment in our future, we work hard at the gym or while jogging to get our bodies into good shape. So why work more? How can we possibly find the motivation to work even harder, after having worked on all other aspects of our lives and are exhausted? Here are some words from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations IV 49, which plays on our schools’ answer to this challenge:

“Remember, too, on every occasion that leads you to vexation to apply this principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.”

Our schools’ stance on dealing with challenges is simple and straight to the point: The same way you cannot grow your muscles without first tearing them apart (like we do when we lift weights,) so it is for your volition. Otherwise put, you cannot grow your Prohairesis (capacity for judgment), which is your most valuable faculty, unless it too gets “torn apart” by tough challenges in life. 

So for this practical exercise, conjure the discipline to remind yourself (say…as you begin your day) that you can read the theory as much as you want, but until you are faced with an unfavorable reality where you must combat the animal brain’s feelings and still do the right thing, you cannot improve. So ‘hard’ times are a blessing for us to practice our virtue.

Keep crushing it everyone. Remember, we’re all in this together, and we’re all rooting for each other.

Anderson Silver (Stoicism for a Better Life)