Stoicism is a philosophical school of thought that originated in ancient Greece and later flourished in Rome. It teaches individuals how to attain inner peace, tranquility, and a virtuous life by focusing on what is within their control and accepting what is not. Stoics believe that emotions like fear, anger, and desire are the result of irrational judgments and that one can achieve mental clarity and contentment by aligning their thoughts with nature and living in accordance with reason. They emphasize the importance of ethical principles, self-discipline, and resilience in the face of adversity. Stoicism has had a lasting influence on Western thought and continues to offer valuable insights on living a fulfilling and meaningful life. 🏛️😌🌿💭🧠💪🌅🌟
🤔 I have a theory that stoicism, 🏛️ which is probably my predominant philosophical structure because it’s the one I understand the most and it’s the one that echoes the teachings of 12-step recovery. 🔄
The theory is that you hit a wall and stoicism, because stoicism is mostly spiritual bypassing rather than "authentic" character development and action. Stoicism teaches you to put a positive spin over every event that’s happening every thought, and see it as a positive thing. To look at death as the continuation of a journey, rather than annihilation and complete non-existence, which is far more depressing. 💪😇🌅
There are times where stoicism in the modern world might block us from having our feelings and having our feelings is an important part of the healing process. We can’t hold in our anger if we feel it, we have to have a stoic way of expressing it. 😡😶💔
To me, the perfect balance is to jump in and out of different philosophies, depending on the circumstances that I’ve been in. There are times when 100% stoicism is perfect and there are times when I need to be a little bit more emotional and thoughtful and acknowledge difficult feelings. The balance between being emotionally connected and perhaps being overly emotionally connected is difficult to see because it’s happening inside your head. That is why for me I have structure to my stoic philosophy. ⚖️💭
I am stoic when I am doing yoga. I ignore any negative thoughts, I push them out of my head, I only see the positive in the experience, and I am deep within the breath. I have to dig into all the finest parts of my personality and my character to get through a 90-minute hot yoga class. 🧘♂️🌞
When I’m sitting with my wife, however, talking about a conflict that we are having, if she tells me that she’s hurt, I can’t say to her, "Look on the bright side, honey. We still have our house." That would never work. Stoicism is intellectual philosophy psychology, delve into emotional psychology. How do I feel? Stoicism does not address that as readily. You could find that in stoicism however, if you look closely enough, some of the stoics talk about really truly knowing who you are and understanding your personal history. But you have to dive deeper into that, so it isn’t a direct path to practical knowledge. 🤔🌊🏊♂️🕵️♂️