Before you dive into this wordy blog, you should seriously consider asking this question, WHY, shall I spend, say 4 minutes at an average speed of 250 words / min to read 1,000 words in this blog. This “WHY” is a very sharp “Katana” ( A famous japanese sword ) that can cut through the daily mundane chase of life and make it more meaningful. To an extent, that you might end up not doing 9 out of 10 useless things that you do daily and replace them with new 9 other useful things that matter. So the reason “why” you should read this is to understand the gems of wisdom given by some of the greatest minds who strolled this planet centuries ago. Their ideas were so powerful that we still quote them in our personal and corporate lives till date.
The very fabric of this philosophy, we call “Stoicism” is that we live in our thoughts and actions and even while we are performing an act, we are yet living it in our minds which basically means we stroll through our lives in our thoughts. So, indeed it won’t be wrong to say that a powerful thought is a powerful tool that can set the tone of an immense change. Now, If i tell you that after reading this blog you will not have any issues in life, that would be a blatant lie, but what I can certainly assure you is that if you remember ( think ) the fundamentals of stoicism, you will never lose your peace irrespective of what problems you face in life. The philosophy of stoicism is essentially a set of carefully placed scaffoldings of thoughts that is used to construct a very powerful thinking machine which is your own mind. A machine that can churn any incoming situation into a meaningful life experience. The end result of which is “Inner Peace” ( in the words of “Master shifu” from my favorite “Kung Fu Panda” :)
The objective is simple, i.e. to have “Inner peace”. However to have “Inner Peace” all the time, always, every day, every moment is not that simple. As at this moment while i am writing this blog, I am having a sense of “Inner Peace” that possibly and possibly, what I write might help you in someway. Once you implement this stoic software in your consciousness ( you can call it an antivirus ), you would be ready to defend any malware attack with your firewall :) Won’t that be amazing? How would it feel to stand firm like a rock in the face of an impending disaster. In a situation when people around you will be panicking and jumping up and down, you will remain calm and composed like a monk with the most beautiful smile on your face. So, Stoicism, if i have to draw a parallel is like a combination of Allopathy and Homeopathy. Allopathy, because it can reduce your suffering immediately and homeopathy because it will slowly build you to face situations in life with a smile.
I have named this blog as “dose 1.1” which is an allopathic blog :) hence, the positive effects will be immediate, provided you take the pill. What you simply need to do every day is to stroll through your day being slightly more aware of your thoughts. Allow me to kick start your day in the morning, you got up bit late (that’s normal), after which you started rushing into everything. You are waiting for a taxi or a bus which as per Murphy’s law :) is not arriving soon. Now the ball in your mind’s court. It will make you think how stupid you are that you can’t get up 20 mins before, the whole traffic system is screwed, there are not enough taxis and buses etc, etc, and you continue to suffer these thoughts till you reach office, all throughhhhhhhh… the ride. So, let’s say you reached 15 mins late today and in total you suffered say one hour in your mind, really?? at the very start of your day. Pity, but Why ?? Who bestowed this mental suffering upon you? Is in’t this your own devilish mind which feeds on your panics and tries to take control of you whenever situations go slightly out of control. In effect, if you analyse this simple example, did any disaster happen because you happen to be 15 mins late. By the way, I am not encouraging that one should go late to office everyday ( If my HR is reading this blog, please excuse me :( intent is not to promote latism, it’s just an example ), but let’s say that day comes when you are actually late, so what? My whole objective here is that if that day does comes when you are late, then you should not suffer that one hour.
Let’s now ask the question, why did you actually end up suffering in this simple example. You didn’t suffer the situation, but, only your opinion about the situation. If you get up late by 30 mins on a normal day, it’s quite normal. But your opinion that how stupid you are to not get up in time is your opinion about yourself that you suffer. It’s quite usual that every day, during office hours, there will be traffic, there will be less taxis and buses, so basically the situation has been same everyday and it’s the same situation in which most of your fellow residents will be put each day, but it’s highly likely that they are not suffering as much as you did, because they might have a better opinion or judgement about their circumstances.
I don’t want to drag this blog too long, so, In summary in any given situation, you just need to keep one single thought in mind “We suffer only OUR judgements and OUR opinions not the situation itself”. The stress here is on the word OUR. It’s OUR thought that makes us suffer, not the thoughts of your friend, or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your boss. So, essentially, as that thing, which is causing the trouble, (the thought thing) is within your own mind, then the solution shall logically also be within and what is within is in 100% control of yourself, obviously till you realise that.
I will leave you with a quote from Seneca ( A great Stoic Philosopher )
We are more often frightened, than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than reality
VS
( Next dose expected within next 7 days. Watch this space for philosophy in action….)