Week 3 on Live Like A Stoic: Giving Advice to One’s Self

The exercise for the third week on a Stoic workbook, Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises for Cultivating A Good Life, is quite interesting. This week, we will write advices to ourselves on our own problems.

What I find more interesting in this exercise is that we will use the second or third person form. So, instead of writing, ‘I am afraid’, one could write ‘you are afraid’ or John is afraid. In other words, it is like writing letters to ourselves. And I kinda love writing letters.

One of the many Stoic practices is to look into our own situation objectively. And to learn how to give ourselves an advice the way we give others.

A friend of mine was diagnosed with an illness. This diagnosis has changed the way he lives his life. For somebody who is healthy like myself, it is easy to say: that is life. The sooner he accepts his new situation the better his life will be.

But I wonder, if I got the diagnosis myself, will I also be able to say c’est la vie with equanimity? of perhaps, like my friend, I will say: why me?

What we can influence but not completely control: A Stoic Exercise

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The philosophy of Stoicism teaches us to focus our energy and resources to the the things that are under our control. For obvious reasons, there is no sense to worry and obsess about the things in our lives over which we do not have (complete) control. The ancient Stoics refer to this idea as the dichotomy of control.

In a nutshell, the only things that are ultimately under our control are how we think; how we respond and relate to certain events in our lives; and our decisions on what we think is more important to us. In other words: we only have control in the domains that are within ourselves.

We cannot control the opinion of others, how other people respond or react, the outcome of our endeavours, and many others.

But modern Stoics, such as Gregory Lopez and Massimo Pigliucci, through their book entitled Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises for Cultivating Good Life, rethinks the Stoic concept of the dichotomy of control by proposing another aspect: The things we can influence but cannot completely control.

This third category can be dissected into two sub-parts: first, the part that we cannot control but influence. For instance: actually winning a match. And second, the part we can control, which may influence the outcome. For instance, doing your best while playing the game.

Live Like A Stoic Day 3 of Week 1: Too Excited to Focus

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What a strange day! Although not crazy busy at work unlike in the last few days, there are still a lot of things to be done. And yet, I could not focus today. I am too excited, because I will spend a long weekend in Italy with friends.

Later today, after work, I will be on my way to Amsterdam. Our flight tomorrow is very early so I will spend the night with a good friend of mine. We will go together to the airport and we will meet our other friends there. We are all on the same flight.

This is so exciting. I have been looking forward to this trip for quite a while. I am just so happy like kid. For that, I am grateful.

Day 1 of Week 1, Live Like A Stoic: When Work Gets Overwhelming

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When swamped with work at the office, it is almost impossible not to feel overwhelmed. In the last few days, I feel exactly this way. My inbox was just overflowing with outstanding tasks that needs to be processed within a certain time period. Everyday, new cases come in and tasks are just piling up.

This is really making me stressed and anxious. I dreaded turning on my laptop this morning, which is sad, given that I love my job so much.

I see the amount of work on my account and I cannot help but feel already deflated and discouraged even before I start. I do not know where to begin. It seems that I am doing a lot and yet not accomplishing anything.

It is not only about the amount of work, but I also have difficult cases that I have.

Live Like A Stoic: A Do Over on A Weekly Exercises on Being Stoic

In my previous two posts, I have mentioned this interesting exercise book on Stoicism. The book is entitled Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises for Cultivating A Good Life authored by Massimo Piguliucci and Gregory Lopez.

From the title, one can deduce that there is a designated exercise per week. And the exercises – when done accordingly – will be completed within a year.

The reader – rather, the participant – does not only reflect on the philosophy of Stoicism, but actually practicing to be one. I for one, would like to proactively study this ancient school of thought and put them into practice in my daily life.

I have already attempted to do the first week exercise last week, but this time, I want to do them properly. So here I am, writing a proper introduction.

Doing The Weekly Exercise on Live Like A Stoic Week 1

Last weekend, while perusing the bookstore, I came across a book on Stoicism that caught my attention. The book is entitled: Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises For Cultivating A Good Life authored by Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez.

The title is quite promising. This book offers us some guidance to approach our lives through the lens of Stoicism. There are 52 exercises in this book, which already indicates that there is an exercise for each week for the whole year, which I like an awful lot.

Thanks to its weekly exercise, this book will create a space in which I could actively perform Stoicism both in theory and practice. Furthermore, these exercises will also give me something to blog about for the whole year.