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I see a lot of people taking interest in this idea. For a more nuanced and holistic approach to "not worrying about things you cannot change," I would check out

I see a lot of people taking interest in this idea. For a more nuanced and holistic approach to "not worrying about things you cannot change," I would check out Stoicism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism The best intro book, in my opinion, is William B Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". The main problem I find with simply "Stop Complaining," is how do you do it? What should you and should you not stop complaining about? Do you shut out your feelings about the offending topic, or do you internalize the annoyance and move on? These questions are generally addressed by the Stoics, but I can easily see someone trying to just stop complaining and getting frustrated.

jschulenklopper 12y ago
> The best intro book, in my opinion, is William B Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". See Derek Sivers' notes for that book at https://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy https://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy.
Kenji 12y ago
For people interested in Stoicism, I can recommend the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. There are a couple of very accessible English translations (the original text must be in Latin). The book is basically a collection of many thoughts that are roughly one sentence to a page long and self-contained. So you can read it any way you like, in any order. There are some really inspiring thoughts in the book, though some of them might be difficult to relate to since things have changed quite a bit in almost 2000 years.
- ashark 12y ago
  > (the original text must be in Latin) Greek, oddly enough.
- makmanalp 12y ago
  I'm actually going through this book right now, and I like it a lot. Sometimes you need to dig a bit deeper and cross-confirm with examples from your life to get something meaningful out of it. I can't agree with everything the stoics thought, especially Marcus Aurelius was sometimes contradictory in his own beliefs, and also with the actual stoics - sometimes he leaned epicurean. In any case though, it's difficult to not agree with his very sound observations of humans and human nature that continues to be valid today. I also picked this book up once before, the project gutenberg version, and I stopped reading after a chapter, because the language was kind of impenetrable and I found myself spending more time decoding what was being conveyed than actually thinking. Then I found the Hays translation (with the red raven on the cover), and I love it now. He prefers clean prose over conveying the original verbiage, which can be convoluted. Of course, there is a certain amount of interpretation in the hands of the translator that comes with that, but I don't think it's enough of a big deal in this case. If you really think this impacts the meaning, you can reread passages in another edition simultaneously. I recommend it, it's not as expensive, and it's a dollar if you get it used.
Osmium 12y ago
> The best intro book, in my opinion, is William B Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". Some previous discussion on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716631
gghootch 12y ago
Alternatively, you could take an existentialist approach. Considering the meaningless, absurd, chaotic nature of the vast universe, is it really worth it to get all worked up over someone stepping on your toes?
- ashark 12y ago
  Marcus Aurelius isn't that far from that point of view, at times. Many passages in Meditations can be paraphrased as: "In the blink of an eye you and all your enemies will be dead, and cease to exist. You will be dust, and your petty struggles forgotten. Why dwell on things that don't matter, and that make you unhappy?"
- camillomiller 12y ago
  You may end up being overwhelmed by depression. Or maybe you end up being Kurt Vonnegut.
falcolas 12y ago
I dug into this for personal reasons some time back, and the thing that stuck with me to this day was the act of consciously looking at the aggregations in my life and trying to identify their cause. It made me consciously empathetic to others, and helped me identify the things I could actually change in my life.

jschulenklopper 12y ago

> The best intro book, in my opinion, is William B Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". See Derek Sivers' notes for that book at https://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy https://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy.

Kenji 12y ago

For people interested in Stoicism, I can recommend the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. There are a couple of very accessible English translations (the original text must be in Latin). The book is basically a collection of many thoughts that are roughly one sentence to a page long and self-contained. So you can read it any way you like, in any order. There are some really inspiring thoughts in the book, though some of them might be difficult to relate to since things have changed quite a bit in almost 2000 years.

ashark 12y ago
> (the original text must be in Latin) Greek, oddly enough.
makmanalp 12y ago
I'm actually going through this book right now, and I like it a lot. Sometimes you need to dig a bit deeper and cross-confirm with examples from your life to get something meaningful out of it. I can't agree with everything the stoics thought, especially Marcus Aurelius was sometimes contradictory in his own beliefs, and also with the actual stoics - sometimes he leaned epicurean. In any case though, it's difficult to not agree with his very sound observations of humans and human nature that continues to be valid today. I also picked this book up once before, the project gutenberg version, and I stopped reading after a chapter, because the language was kind of impenetrable and I found myself spending more time decoding what was being conveyed than actually thinking. Then I found the Hays translation (with the red raven on the cover), and I love it now. He prefers clean prose over conveying the original verbiage, which can be convoluted. Of course, there is a certain amount of interpretation in the hands of the translator that comes with that, but I don't think it's enough of a big deal in this case. If you really think this impacts the meaning, you can reread passages in another edition simultaneously. I recommend it, it's not as expensive, and it's a dollar if you get it used.

Osmium 12y ago

> The best intro book, in my opinion, is William B Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". Some previous discussion on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716631

gghootch 12y ago

Alternatively, you could take an existentialist approach. Considering the meaningless, absurd, chaotic nature of the vast universe, is it really worth it to get all worked up over someone stepping on your toes?

ashark 12y ago
Marcus Aurelius isn't that far from that point of view, at times. Many passages in Meditations can be paraphrased as: "In the blink of an eye you and all your enemies will be dead, and cease to exist. You will be dust, and your petty struggles forgotten. Why dwell on things that don't matter, and that make you unhappy?"
camillomiller 12y ago
You may end up being overwhelmed by depression. Or maybe you end up being Kurt Vonnegut.

falcolas 12y ago

I dug into this for personal reasons some time back, and the thing that stuck with me to this day was the act of consciously looking at the aggregations in my life and trying to identify their cause. It made me consciously empathetic to others, and helped me identify the things I could actually change in my life.