How to Suffer Less According to the Stoics
Ancient wisdom for modern times.
Consider that everything arises by transformation, and get used to thinking that the universal nature usually transforms beings and creates new similar beings. In a certain way, every being is the seed of another that will emerge from it. — Marcus Aurelius.
The unique thing that is constant in life is change. Nothing lasts forever. The only thing you can expect is the unexpected.
The places change, the circumstances change, the feelings change, the opinions change. And, of course, you change. But it is not a bad thing.
Change is progress.
As Marcus Aurelius says, you are the seed of another you, and it’s up to you to be better than your former self.
To make it, you have to face adversity differently.
I. The scary thing is not the problems, but to be afraid of the issues.
It is not death or fatigue to be feared, but the fear of exhaustion or death. Therefore we praise him who said: It is not to die that is terrible, but to die dishonorably. — Epictetus.
For the Stoics, the virtuous life was the good one. But for living a righteous life, you’ve to have a meaningful one.
