Three Heart-Felt Stoic Ways to Find Your Deep Inner Calm
Do you believe history repeats itself? Do you believe we can implement Stoic philosophy in our daily lives and become a better human?
Do you believe history repeats itself? Can we implement Stoic philosophy in our daily lives and become a better human?
Stoicism was founded in the city of Athens so many years ago and is currently experiencing a revival on YouTube. I first learned of the Stoic philosophy from Darius Foroux. I was surprised to learn that I practice Stoic wisdom unknowingly in my everyday life. Now I’m interested more than ever to learn more about these core ideas of the ancient Stoics.
So I went online and searched for a book concerning Stoicism. I chose the collected works of Einzelganger, Stoicism For Inner Peace, the Ancient Philosophy for Everyday Life that was first printed January 2021.
Here are three heart-felt Stoic ways to help you find your inner calm:
Letting Go
Life can be extremely stressful at times for seniors and even small children. But in this article, I’m referring only to seniors and stress. The Stoics derive three ways of letting go.
Become aware of indifference — The Stoics believed that happiness equals living in accordance with nature which in turn equals living virtuously. If you oppose choosing to live virtuously — then you are opposing it and considered to live your life by vice. Stoics emphasizes that grasping for externals will never get you the things you’ve imagined to get in the first place. The joy of externals is always temporary.
Remember impermanence — The world changes all the time. The things we attach ourselves to never last. This is another reason why it’s better to let go of them.
Live in the present moment. Yesterday is dead and gone: Tomorrow is out of sight. These are the same ideas from an old popular Kris Kristofferson song he wrote over forty years ago.
“The present is the same for everyone; its loss is the same for everyone; and it should be clear that a brief instant is all that is lost. For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have? Quote by Marcus Aurelius
So, letting go in this case means letting go of something we don’t have. Sure we have memories of our past and thoughts about the future. But what are thoughts other than fabrication of the mind.
Mastering Self-Control
Stoics believe self-control allows us to strengthen our inner faculty. A strong inner faculty ensures we’re less likely to be enslaved by outside forces that were not up to us. This means that impulses, triggers, and temptations have less power over us, which strengthens our position in uncertain times.
Be aware of triggers such as social media and Netflix binge watching…these temptations can steal your calm without you realizing it.
Loneliness
People need people is a popular advertisement slogan. It has been suggested that loneliness can bring on health issues such as dementia or other illnesses. But is being alone really unhealthy?
Since humans are social creatures, being part of a group has many benefits. We feel connected as we have people to communicate with.
Social interaction can make life fun and interesting.
Stoic philosophy states that spending time alone is also part of life and we shouldn’t shut the door to this experience. We’re born alone and we die alone.
Aloneness is as much part of life as companionship. The Stoics teach that we must develop the skills to entertain ourselves and to be occupied with ourselves when we’re alone.
As for me, I prefer to be alone most of the time — because I spend hours reading and writing. I appreciate being alone especially while writing a post.
But I do miss being around like-minded positive people. I need human companionship and socializing. People and music seem to boost my spirit while I find new energy to keep pushing on.
Take Away
It’s so important to seek your inner calm if you want to have a fully-enriched quality of life. Being able to let go, mastering self-control, and knowing how to handle loneliness makes for a better life for everyone.
Thanks for reading.