Stoicism. Itās an Ancient Greek /Roman philosophy, founded by the Ancient Greek/Roman philosophers called Stoics. They believed that the ultimate goal in life is to cultivate wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. They are indifferent to external events and practice mindfulness. But then, this is the 21st Century. Some old, wise guys in robes canāt tell us to live life, right?
Which is why Iām not listening to them. Iām listening to Ryan Holiday, writer of Daily Stoic, The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. He has been doing it for more than a decade and is more than experienced. So, I watched his YouTube videos and read his blog (nicely written by the way, go check it out). And then, I decided to become a Stoic (back in December 17).
š§² What Did I Do?
Answer: I practiced stillness. Not sitting still stillness, but a stillness where you are slowing down, appreciating what youāre doing, and be Zen. In a fast paced world, this is quite hard to do. One trick I found was hiding all clocks (digital and real). Now, I couldnāt keep looking at the time, which reduced my stress of completing things faster.
When my friends kept annoying or irritating me (which is actually a lot), I just rolled with it. I didnāt attack back, I didnāt fight back, I just laughed or walked away, though I sometimes tried to make them see the logic. In fact, you could say I had a lot of courage doing that. I cultivated my knowledge by watching mindful, productive videos like Kurzgesagt, Matt DāAvella, Ali Abdaal, MKBHD and more.
š¤Æ Effects
I definitely feel a bit more Zen now, with feeling almost no stress about most tasks (unless I was procrastinating), and I feel like I havenāt felt anger in a long time. Stress, anxiety, all of those emotions I feel during an external, uncontrollable events go away. In fact, recently, I had lost the finals of the debate, and quite honestly, I was only thinking about how I would be bit more louder in my next debate. I would recommend trying Stoicism for most people, especially if youāre someone who gets stressed a lot.
ā”ļø Next Week: š§ How I Meditated For Two Weeks
š Quote of the Week
āWhere the head goes, the body follow. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.ā-Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way