The Daily Stoic - Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Day 33
November 14th - You Choose the Outcome
"He was sent to prison. But the observation 'he has suffered evil,' is an addition coming from you."
Epictetus, Discourses, 3.8.5b-6a
From the Author:
"This is classic stoic thinking, as you've gathered by now. An event itself is objective. How we describe it - that it was unfair, or it's a great calamity, or that they did it on purpose - is on us.
Malcolm X (then Malcolm Little) went into prison a criminal, but he left as an educated, religious, and motivated man who would help in the struggle for civil rights. Did he suffer an evil? Or did he choose to make his experience a positive one?
Acceptance isn't passive. It's the first step in an active process toward self-improvement."
Make the best of every opportunity and you'll see nothing bad happens /to/ you. Only based off our subjective thinking does an objective event take a form whether good or bad. But all events can be spun, some harder than others, to be good, or at least one you can take a positive lesson from.
Perspective is also a huge part of this, I believe that if you can put into perspective an event and it's impact upon us, most things are of extremely small impact. You got cut off, you stubbed your toe, You broke a nail, a bird shit on you. All very minor things, less than a day and it'll be gone from your mind. So the event is objective and of little significance, but our subjective frame on the event is how we allow things to affect us.
Start to become conscious of all the times you curse under your breath, catch yourself and consider a universal reason for the event, or that it just doesn't matter, and let it go.
Shevacai
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2023-11-14 15:18:51
Author Public Key
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2023-11-14 15:18:51Event JSON
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"content": "The Daily Stoic - Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living\n\nDay 33\n\nNovember 14th - You Choose the Outcome\n\n\"He was sent to prison. But the observation 'he has suffered evil,' is an addition coming from you.\"\n\nEpictetus, Discourses, 3.8.5b-6a\n\nFrom the Author:\n\n\"This is classic stoic thinking, as you've gathered by now. An event itself is objective. How we describe it - that it was unfair, or it's a great calamity, or that they did it on purpose - is on us.\nMalcolm X (then Malcolm Little) went into prison a criminal, but he left as an educated, religious, and motivated man who would help in the struggle for civil rights. Did he suffer an evil? Or did he choose to make his experience a positive one?\nAcceptance isn't passive. It's the first step in an active process toward self-improvement.\"\n\n\nMake the best of every opportunity and you'll see nothing bad happens /to/ you. Only based off our subjective thinking does an objective event take a form whether good or bad. But all events can be spun, some harder than others, to be good, or at least one you can take a positive lesson from.\n\nPerspective is also a huge part of this, I believe that if you can put into perspective an event and it's impact upon us, most things are of extremely small impact. You got cut off, you stubbed your toe, You broke a nail, a bird shit on you. All very minor things, less than a day and it'll be gone from your mind. So the event is objective and of little significance, but our subjective frame on the event is how we allow things to affect us. \n\nStart to become conscious of all the times you curse under your breath, catch yourself and consider a universal reason for the event, or that it just doesn't matter, and let it go.",
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