[Instructor] 12 practical stoic exercises
that embody the ideas presented in
How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci.
If you execute on just a few of these,
you'll find yourself feeling less miserable.
The first exercise is to examine your impressions.
Evaluate your initial reactions to events, people
and what you are told by taking a step back
to be rational before your knee jerk,
over emotional reactions cause unnecessary troubles.
Ask that whatever is being thrown at you
is under your control or not.
If it is, then act on it, if it isn't, then chill out.
When I landed in Australia
after my trip from Thailand last year,
I left my phone in the airport bathroom.
When I realised five minutes later
and went to check if it was there, it was gone.
Instead of freaking out and feeling like crap,
I accepted the situation for what it was,
went and asked the security desk to see if they had it
and made every effort to find it,
but there came a point shortly after
where I had to accept that I had lost it.
I went on with my day like nothing happened
and ordered a new one when I got home.
The second exercise is to remind yourself
of the impermanence of things.
This year my girlfriend and I broke and I lost my mother,
part of the reason I've been able
to hold myself together is because of this lesson,
but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy every moment
leading up to the loss of someone or something.
To me it's a much healthier way of living,
because I don't get any nasty surprises.
The third exercise is the reverse clause.
Whenever planning an action,
mentally rehearse what the plan entails.
A night out to the movies could involve obnoxious people
who talk loudly and are so chained to their phones
that they have to check their messages every seven seconds,
an act which is accompanied by a devastating stream of light
that unwilling diverts your attention
from the theatre screen.
By mentally rehearsing a scenario like this one,
you prime yourself to be in line with how the world works
and in therefore less agitated than the average Joe
who expects that everything will go well.
The fourth exercise, we should be asking ourselves
how can I use virtue here and now.
This is an ancient way of saying
that every challenge in life
is a perfectly good chance to work on self improvement.
I remember getting stranded on my motorbike
in Thailand at 1 AM in the morning, I had a flaty.
Instead of getting pissed off about it,
I took it as an opportunity to accept
what had just happened as a learning experience.
Five minutes later two Thai guys pulled over
and towed me and my bike back to my place
whilst we had a few laughs.
The obstacle is the way.
Exercise five, pause and take a deep breath.
A quote from Epictetus, remember it is not enough
to be hit or insulted to be harmed,
you must believe that you are being harmed,
if someone succeeds in provoking you,
realise that your mind is complicit in the provocation.
That's why taking a deep breath
before you respond impulsively can do you wonders.
Exercise six, other-ize.
When we break a glass, oh shhhh, damn!
But when a friend breaks a glass,
we are like, meh, it happens,
but isn't that only reasonable then
that when we break a glass of our own,
that we react in the same patient spirit?
Another way we can use this lesson
is that if we see someone else
seemingly over-reacting to a situation,
if we put ourselves in their shoes,
there is a good chance we would react the same way
unless we are well versed
in stoic practises such as this one.
Exercise seven, speak little and well.
Epictetus expresses his fondness of intellectual discussion
as opposed to fundamentally empty matters
like who slept with who and Miley Cyrus's choice twerks.
If you are chatty extrovert
who just likes to talk for the sake of it,
then I don't believe you should
force yourself to be someone you are not,
but what you should take away from this lesson
is to simply be conscious of how and what you say
and how much effects yourself and others.
So if you are chatting to someone for 15 minutes
about how your cat likes to nibble
on your toe nails every morning at 6 AM
and they show signs of disinterest,
then I'd suggest you consider changing the topic,
listening to what they have to say,
or bringing the conversation to an end.
Exercise eight, choose your company well.
As you've probably heard, you are the average
of the five people you spend the most time with.
Good company to the stoics means those who are interested
in following virtue and improving themselves.
Exercise nine, respond to insults with humour.
Back in high school I had this skin condition called eczema
where I'd get red, flaky skin on my hands
and this guy used to throw out snarky comments about it.
I just responded by adding to his snarky comment,
yeah this shit's out of control!
And I followed it up with a hearty laugh.
The dude had no idea how to respond and we actually ended up
getting along by the end of high school.
Exercise 10, don't speak much about yourself.
Epictetus is delivering the goods once again.
Just because you enjoy recounting your exploits
doesn't mean the others derive
the same pleasure from hearing about them.
Yeah thanks Epictetus.
Exercise 11, speak without judging.
If Jimmy downs a lot of wine,
don't tell him he has a drinking problem,
tell him he drinks a lot.
Until you know Jimmy's reasons,
how do you know his actions are bad ones,
always state the situation rather than making conclusions.
Now for the last exercise, reflect on your day.
What good did you do today?
What could have you done better?
Seneca suggests we do this in the evening
before hopping in bed because bed can make you
feel groggy and lose concentration.
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