Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (September 4, 2019)

Hello there,

First off I want to remind the participants that unfortunately last week’s exercise was never stickied in r/Stoicism (holidays and whatnot) but they can all be found in r/practicingstoicism as all exercises are archived there.

For this week, let us get back to some very core precepts of Stoicism and I will draw upon words from Epictetus’ Discourses II 1-12:

“So if you don’t want to be cantankerous, don’t feed your temper, or multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count the days on which you don’t get mad.”

When an event occurs, we have an emotional response… a knee jerk reaction. This is no more controllable than getting seasick when one goes out to the open seas for the first time. This initial reaction is automated responses of the vessel we occupy (also known as the body) and are referred to as Proto-emotions by our ancient guides.

So this week, when something happens (e.x. someone cuts you off dangerously in traffic) and you have a knee jerk response (e.x. flare up and get super angry) take a deep breath and recognize the Proto-emotion for what it is, and CHOSE to engage your rational mind before you respond. Life is too short to lose in emotions and responses triggered by them. So let us try and reduce the loss as much as possible by making a conscious effort (no matter how little we may accomplish).

As always, much love to you all and I wish you a wise, tranquil and productive week.

Anderson Silver

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