4 ms·
I'm not a stoic but after losing my faith in religion, I needed something to replace it, and also found stoicism helped w/ depression, but I namely only focused
by gremlinsinc 7y ago
I'm not a stoic but after losing my faith in religion, I needed something to replace it, and also found stoicism helped w/ depression, but I namely only focused on a few main things.
1. There are 3 types of worries: What we have power over, what we share power over to change, and what we have zero power over. Stress goes down if we use 0 mental energy on group 3, 25% on group 2, and the rest on group 1.
2. Spend a few minutes a day to ponder the fact that one day I'll die. Am I doing everything I can to maximize my time here?
3. Don't push emotions away, but try to understand the triggers behind them. I'm rational anyways so this makes sense to me.
I think people of different beliefs and political backgrounds of course can go different ways w/ some of the teachings for sure... my therapist looked over my notes on stoicism and basically said it's CBT just under a new umbrella.
I'm a progressive, I support equality of wages (to a point) -- everyone should make enough to support a family, and have basic needs met if they put in 40 hours per week. Whether they work at Facebook or McDonald's.
I also have ADD so stoicism is just one part of the many things I focus on so I still have many things in my life 'not' in control, but I have a lot less stress because I worry less about things out of my control. I also have more joy because I realize I'm going to die, and it makes me want to enjoy my kids more cause I don't know when that day will come.
Honestly, I've felt more inspiration, love, hope, and in awe of the universe since I left the Mormon church, than I ever felt in it's grasp. I thank therapy, stoicism, crossfit, and ADD medication for that. Though I need to go back to crossfit --it's been a few months.