Stoicism: Everything You Have To Know As a Beginner - Step 9

Introduction to the amazing world of stoic philosophy.

Those posts are fragments from my book “Short Practical Guide to Mental Health“, therefore they're, exceptionally, behind the paywall. You can purchase the book here.

"The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience" - Mark Manson.

My journey with this beautiful way of looking at life started with Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations". Despite being very old, the book provides universal truths about life that are valid even to this day.

While I will probably never have such a great level of reasoning and logical thinking as the author, nor will I be a Caesar of ancient Rome, it’s amazing that you can look inside the head of one of the greatest minds of the ancient world.

The thing about stoicism that amazed me was about assumptions. Sometimes, when you have no influence on something, but you kinda need to care, it may be the best option to change your attitude. 

Picture this:

Your car breaks down, leaving you with no option but to proceed on foot. Naturally, you had no influence over your car breaking down, but you need to be there anyway. You find yourself angry and disappointed, but is it really a bad thing, or is it just your assumptions about going by foot that make it feel that way? It sounds like nonsense? Maybe, but you have no other option but to make going by foot more bearable anyway. 

Even if an unexpected event has occurred, like your phone getting soaked during a sudden rainstorm, you may not be at fault; however, you are still accountable for your reactions and how you handle the situation.

Sometimes, life may seem like an unending stream of obstacles, each designed just to make you furious. Yet, the crucial insight lies in the understanding that we cannot alter the game's rules; instead, we must learn to play by them.

This one will be somewhat different from the previous example. If you won’t get to know what happened, it’s often best to assume the best-case scenario.

Imagine someone honking at you in traffic, and you’re left wondering what you did wrong and stressing over it. What’s your assumption? You are at fault. Why? You don’t know. But is it likely that assumption is wrong? Let’s go through a few possibilities of what may have happened: