Practical Stoicism

1. Practice self-reflection and objective thinking daily

Review your recent emotional responses. What made you angry? What nagging fear continues to wear at you? To whom do you have antipathy?

Examine your impressions. Regularly assess your thoughts, emotions, and reactions to events. Question the validity of your initial judgments and try to view situations objectively. This practice helps you identify and correct faulty thinking patterns, biases, and irrational responses.

Journaling for clarity. Consider keeping a daily journal to record and analyze your experiences, thoughts, and emotional reactions. This written reflection can provide valuable insights into your patterns of thinking and behavior, allowing you to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

• Ask yourself:
  • What triggered strong emotions today?
  • How did I respond, and was that response aligned with my values?
  • What can I learn from this experience?
  • How can I improve my response in similar future situations?

2. Embrace discomfort and adversity as opportunities for growth

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body.

Seek out challenges. Deliberately expose yourself to minor discomforts and inconveniences to build mental resilience. This practice helps you develop the ability to maintain composure and effectiveness in the face of more significant adversities.

Reframe obstacles. Instead of viewing difficulties as burdens, see them as opportunities to exercise and strengthen your character. Each challenge becomes a chance to practice virtue and improve your ability to handle future hardships.

• Examples of voluntary discomfort:
  • Take cold showers
  • Fast for a day
  • Sleep on the floor
  • Walk or bike instead of driving
  • Engage in public speaking

3. Focus on what's within your control and accept what isn't

Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power.

Apply the Stoic Fork. When faced with any situation, first determine whether it's within your control or not. Focus your energy and attention on those aspects you can influence, while accepting and adapting to those you cannot.

Cultivate inner peace. By concentrating on your own thoughts, judgments, and actions – the only things truly under your control – you can maintain tranquility regardless of external circumstances. This shift in focus from external events to internal responses is key to Stoic equanimity.

• Within your control:
  • Your thoughts and opinions
  • Your choices and actions
  • Your responses to events
• Outside your control:
  • Other people's actions and opinions
  • External events and circumstances
  • The ultimate outcomes of your efforts

4. Cultivate virtuous habits and emulate admirable role models

We need to set our affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.

Identify exemplars. Choose individuals who embody the virtues and qualities you aspire to develop. These role models can be historical figures, contemporary leaders, or people in your personal life who demonstrate wisdom, courage, justice, and self-discipline.

Imagine their guidance. When faced with difficult decisions or ethical dilemmas, ask yourself how your chosen role models would act in similar situations. This mental exercise can provide clarity and inspiration for virtuous action.

• Steps to emulate role models:
  1. Study their lives and decisions
  2. Identify specific virtues they exemplify
  3. Practice those virtues in your daily life
  4. Reflect on how you can apply their wisdom to your challenges

5. Simplify your life and resist unnecessary desires

It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

Declutter your life. Regularly assess your possessions, commitments, and habits. Eliminate or reduce those that don't contribute to your well-being or align with your values. This simplification creates space for what truly matters.

Practice contentment. Cultivate gratitude for what you have and resist the constant pursuit of more. By focusing on needs rather than wants, you can find greater satisfaction and freedom from the tyranny of desire.

• Areas to simplify:
  • Material possessions
  • Time commitments
  • Digital consumption
  • Relationships
  • Financial obligations

6. Maintain perspective through cosmic awareness

You can rid yourself of many useless things among those that disturb you, for they lie entirely in your imagination; and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every part of everything, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution.

Zoom out mentally. Regularly practice the "View from Above" exercise, imagining yourself from increasingly distant perspectives – your city, country, planet, and beyond. This cosmic viewpoint helps put your personal concerns into a broader context.

Contemplate impermanence. Reflect on the transient nature of all things, including your own life. This awareness can help you prioritize what truly matters and let go of trivial worries.

• Benefits of cosmic awareness:
  • Reduced anxiety about personal problems
  • Increased empathy and connection to humanity
  • Greater appreciation for the present moment
  • Enhanced ability to focus on what's truly important

7. Love your fate and face mortality with equanimity

Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

Practice Amor Fati. Cultivate a love for whatever fate brings, including difficulties and setbacks. See challenges as opportunities for growth and self-improvement rather than as burdens to be avoided.

Embrace Memento Mori. Regularly contemplate your own mortality to gain perspective, prioritize what's truly important, and live more fully in the present moment. This practice can help you overcome fear of death and make the most of your limited time.

• Ways to practice Memento Mori:
  • Visualize your own death and its aftermath
  • Write your own obituary
  • Visit cemeteries or attend funerals
  • Set a daily reminder of your mortality
  • Reflect on how you want to be remembered

Last updated: August 15, 2024