Following Beginner Stoicism Ideas

When it comes to ideas of philosophy or religion I am very much new to this. However don’t you feel that something is missing in our lives when we are in an ever advancing society and economy from the benefits of science, technology? Does this human/societal progress abstract away from us the need a moral and ethical substructure?

I am not afraid to share that I felt a sense of nihilism as I unintentionally found myself working as cog in a machine in this system of life.

With the spare time that I had I took to some free exploration in literature and resources: From dabbling into an organized religion, watching videos of great modern thinkers and reading more deeply into philosophy.

It comes to a realization that humans need a value system. Whether it is spoon fed to them from an early age or at a time of life where we need to really figure out how to live our lives deliberately.

On my path to discovering and re-defining my identity my ideas and thoughts most align with rationality, a mixture of taoist, buddhist schools of thought and most recently understanding the stoic philosophy.

What is Stoic Philosophy or Stoicism?

Stoicism is considered the most practical of philosophies. Practical in the sense that it can be applied to this modern age. In fact some great Stoic philosophers of works I must read are Marcus Aurelius: a great roman emperor, Seneca a playwright and Epictetus: a slave. They come from vastly different backgrounds but they all came to this school of thought.

In my simplest definition it is this unwavering and indifferent persistence over obstacles and that one can only have control over their actions and thoughts. Take the obstacle that eventually come up in our lives and reframe them into something that you can control or take advantage of.

3 Simple Ideas and Practices

Idea 1: Memento Mori

It is a simple yet profound thought. Life is limited, we will eventually all die. In fact, reframing how to view a day… We are dying each day.

This was derived from Book 3 In Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think”

Morbid, I know. Bear with me the idea of Memento Mori, it is the symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. Let this reminder not scare you, but change your perspective of how you choose to act and behave throughout the day. How would you determine how to spend your day if you knew of the possibility of dying?

Well for some irresponsible millennials (and many more) I suspect they would live each day to its fullest by heavily consumptive, high thrill, pleasuring activities. It isn’t a wrong thing to do if you were absolutely certain you would die the next day in the early years.

However I would like to challenge this mindset of empty activities with the idea of responsibility.

As the DailyStoic suggests, use this as a “tool to create a sense of urgency and perspective.”

Instead of blind consumption and pleasure we have the option and choose to live each day with virtue and meaning. That is taking responsibility and action for what we desire in future, but Now.

Idea 2: Premeditatio Malorum

On December 26, it was Boxing Day here in Canada.

As the hoards of shoppers are waiting in line or trampling over others to get their best deals

I was waiting in line… for the gym to open at 8am. Different hours during the holidays. No excuses given this set strict routine. On that morning I came early just to have some time to myself and to gaze upon the streets just outside the opening door. As a fellow service worker in my younger years I know how crappy it is being on shift to open or close.

I waited patiently for the gym attendants to come in, open the door, lock it to not allow us in before the correct opening time to setup their gym area. During this time of the morning I do get a sense of the gym regulars who like me come a bit earlier and wait in line, albeit I and pretty crazy and arrive first, 30 minutes early just to wait and relax.

Even with our establish line and order to enter the gym as it opens there is usually this one lady who arrives around 7:55am, much after many other people. Who barges in, in front of me sometimes. Therefore getting in and speeding onto her preferred station right away. Now, no one is really fighting her for a spot and equipment, but it is clearly mark of disrespect for all the other gym patrons who have waited in line at opening before her.

However this morning I felt calm and reserved. I walked over to her warming up at the squat rack to gently remind her of some common decency for our shared public space.

“Excuse me miss, I would appreciate it if you respect the time of space of other patrons and wait your turn and not cut in front of everyone-”

She looked at me annoyingly, cut and brushed me off:

“What, who are you to say! You kicked the door!” - Partially true, when the attendants came in early to open, I closed it for them with my foot gently

“I pay for this too. Go away, go away!”

Well that was quite a no-IQ rude response. Did not even give me the chance to say everything and really absorb it. It didn’t affect my workout as I didn’t need to use that equipment but her actions and behaviour stuck with me.

It stuck with me because I didn’t get the whole chance to let out my thoughts. Since her attitude stuck with me through the rest of the day it affected everything else that I did. In a sense her ill-will got in my head and ‘she won’. I say that because who knows if our interaction stuck with her for the rest of the day, for all that I could know I occupied no space in her mind and she could go about her usual routine. Unfortunately I let her negativity seep into me.

Why did I go through a long winded story you may ask?

It stuck to me and while coming upon Stoicism studies the new idea resonated me: Premeditatio Malorum, the practice of meditating on all the things that could go wrong throughout the day. The Stoic idea for this morning daily routine is to envision the possibilities of what could go wrong to mentally ready ourselves for them.

In the beginning of Meditations Book 2: “I may have to do with some intermeddler in other mens affairs, with an ungrateful man; an insolent, or a crafty, or an envious, or an unsociable selfish man. These bad qualities have befallen them through their ignorance of what things are truly good or evil.”

Marcus Aurelius has acknowledge that we can very well encounter negative people but they act this way because they can’t discern from good or bad. If anything it redirects our focus on ourselves and how we control our emotions and reactions to these situations. Taking a lesson from this concept I should learn to be indifferent to the grumpiness/bad mood from that lady and not let that bother me. Another step would be to prepare myself on how to act according to bad situations. This is a good example for me to reflect and implement for my future interactions.

If Memento Mori is a constant reminder to assess my behaviour and actions in any moment of the inevitability of my life. Then this practice could be part of a beginning morning routine during my meditations to mentally prepare myself for the rest of my day.

Idea 3: Stoic practice of Journaling

The earlier practices should be used throughout the day and in the beginning of your day in order to get ourselves prepared and ready to face each day. Those ideas are to center one self to be present and aware in the moment.

Journalling is said to be almost synonymous to stoicism itself.

I have journaled before following stoicism and their philosophers but it never really clicked. In fact, sitting down and writing down my thoughts – putting them into actual words was difficult. Let alone doing it routinely. To add to that my handwriting is so crap I basically blindly rush and write chick scratch.

That becomes an ineligible mess that the me of the next day or next week would be frustrated to read.

Looking back I most likely took on too many routine changes in that period in my life.

At the time my routines consisted of:

• daily meditations in order for mental clarity and preparations
• a daily coding algorithm, data structure (interview style practice)
• Duolingo Mandarin practices

My nights before journaling would be occupied with other nightly routines like preparing for my next day and coming back from practices/errands.

To others, that might not look urgent or important but that is the essence of building the habits and routines that make up a structured productive life.

To put it simply the environment and circumstances were not right at the time that facilitated a good journalling session.

Back to the art of journaling, from the anecdotal evidences I’ve seen from dailystoic and reading up world class performers from Tim Ferris’ Tools of Titans they preferred to do this practice in the evening.

Journaling at night allows us to examine our day and look over what we have done, accomplished or could not finish. It also allows us to reflect upon the thoughts and actions that we did take. Since it is also a very personal task it is the right time and means to honestly, objectively look at ourselves.

Therefore it is allowing us to set aside the personal time to have a conversation with ourselves as another means of self-development, self therapy. At the same time it is allows for a our mind and self to appreciate the one day journey.

For those reasons I do want to take up this practice again.

However, to keep up with this habit I do wish to setup the routine but keep this one loose - It is okay to miss a night or two of journaling. I at least want to recollect and record out my thoughts 3 to 4 times a week in an attentive and careful approach so that future me can look back and read clearly.

What are your thoughts on these abstract stoic ideas and practices? Have you tried these before? I bet some of you have journaled or kept a diary when you were younger. I do appreciate your thoughts. Please do share with me your tips and experiences about these ideas and other practices and ways of life!