5 LESSONS on How to Think Clearly

Thinking clearly is an essential life skill, yet most of us go through life without giving much thought to how we think. Our thoughts are often distorted by cognitive biases, emotions, and misperceptions. The ancient philosophy of Stoicism provides timeless wisdom on how to think rationally, make better decisions, and live a virtuous life.

In this post, I will share five key lessons on how to think clearly from the great Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. His insights in “Meditations” ring true even today and provide a framework to challenge our perceptions, control emotions, exercise reason, develop virtues, and broaden our perspectives.

1. Train Your Perception

Our initial perceptions of people, events, and situations are often flawed. We make snap judgments clouded by emotions like anger, anxiety, or desire. Marcus Aurelius emphasized the importance of moving past our first impressions to perceive things rationally.

The Stoics encourage us to challenge our default perceptions. When something happens, pause and consider if your initial reaction is justified. Question whether it is rational or driven by emotion. Over time, you can train yourself to perceive things objectively right from the get-go.

Here’s an exercise Marcus suggests to reframe obstacles as opportunities:

“Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

When you face an obstacle, flip it upside down in your mind. View it as a blessing in disguise — a chance to practice virtues like patience, creativity, and resilience. Adopt a flexible mindset to work around any impediment. With an agile perception, you can turn obstacles into opportunities.

2. Learn to Control Your Emotions

Marcus Aurelius cautioned against letting emotions override reason:

“Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. It is not allowed. But throw away your unnecessary assumptions instead. And stop letting passions distract you.”

Controlling emotions is not about suppressing them. Emotions provide valuable signals about our inner state and environment. But they can also cloud judgment and disrupt wise decision making.

The key is to feel emotions while retaining the ability to direct them constructively. Don’t let anger make you act spitefully or anxiety paralyze you with fear. Instead, use anger to motivate productive action and anxiety to plan more mindfully. Channel emotions as fuel without letting them control your behavior.

Regular journaling, meditation, and negative visualization are Stoic practices that build emotional regulation. Over time, you can move from being controlled by emotions to using them as tools for good.

3. Exercise the Dichotomy of Control

A major tenet of Stoic philosophy is distinguishing what we can control from what we cannot. As Marcus puts it:

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.”

There are limits to our power. No amount of effort will change the past or control how others behave. Recognizing this frees us from frustration over what’s outside our influence.

Focus your energy solely on what’s within your control — your thoughts, values, and actions. Build resilience by accepting what you cannot change. Embrace challenges as opportunities to practice virtues. Let go of expectations and live in harmony with life’s flow.

Marcus Aurelius went as far as suggesting we practice “amor fati” or love of fate. This means accepting whatever happens and making the best of your circumstances. By embracing life’s ups and downs with equanimity, you free yourself from dependence on external factors for happiness.

4. Embrace the Virtues

The four cardinal virtues in Stoicism are wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. They reflect human excellence and lead to eudaimonia — a deep sense of meaning and tranquility.

Marcus Aurelius believed wholeheartedly in upholding these virtues:

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

Aligning actions with virtues keeps you grounded. Wisdom guides thoughtful decision making. Justice ensures fair treatment of others. Courage helps overcome adversity. Temperance provides balance against excess.

Make it a daily practice to reflect on the virtues. Check whether your thoughts and behaviors express them. When in doubt, ask yourself “What would the wise, just, brave, and moderate path be?” Let these timeless virtues steer you towards righteousness.

5. Embrace a Broader Perspective

Marcus Aurelius viewed adopting a bird’s eye view as key to thinking clearly:

“You can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind — things that exist only there — and clear out space for yourself: by comprehending the scale of the world, by contemplating infinite time, by thinking of the speed with which things change — each part of everything; the narrow space between our birth and death; the infinite time before; the equally unbounded time that follows.”

Zooming out allows realizing how transient our lives and problems are. Build the habit of stepping back and getting the big picture when issues feel overwhelming. Consider the broader timeline of humanity, the vastness of the cosmos, and how all things pass.

With great breadth of vision, you can think independently, unclouded by self-interest. You understand what really matters, making decisions with wisdom. Marcus’s meditations on nature’s grandeur and human impermanence are reminders to transcend the narrow confines of individual concerns. Thinking bigger brings clarity.

Thinking clearly requires training perception, controlling emotion, exercising reason, upholding virtue, and transcending limits. Put these lessons from Marcus Aurelius into consistent practice. You will find greater wisdom and serenity by developing as a rational, ethical, and broad-minded thinker. The Stoic principles he advocated are universal tools to live wisely.