Stoicism And The Art of Happiness

What is Stoicism?

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno Of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. It is a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, by using one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.

This philosophy of stoicism was written 2000 years ago but these principles still seemingly important for being happier in the modern world. Today I am writing about 8 things that I learned from stoicism:

1. Control: It is the main principle Of stoicism. To be happier we should focus more on the stuff which is in our control. In the modern-day, we think so much about the thing which is not in our control and get bothered about the thing which is not in our control. "Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle. Something that is within our control, and something that is not" a famous quote from Epictetus. Suppose, you are a Youtuber so you always keep a to your viewers and subscribers but if you look at the brought picture you can realize that your viewers and subscribers are not in your control. So, as stoic you should not think about the numbers of your subscriber or viewers rather than you should think about the content you are creating because that's in your control.
2. Pre Meditating Adversity: You meditate on the idea of the potential negative things and you, it protects us from when it actually happens.

   As you kiss your son goodnight, whisper to yourself, "He may be dead in the morning" - Epictetus

   It's not about fixating on the idea that your son might day, its about reminding yourself that what I've got right now is amazing and I don't wanna squander it. It makes us love the things we are doing and love the people around us because it reminds us that it may not last. It's about fostering gratitude for the things we have now.

   Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness - all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil. - Marcus Aurelius

   Meditating on the fact that we are on the tail end of some important relationships in our lives, it makes us appreciate their importance more.

3. Seek Discomfort: While all excesses are hurtful, excess of comfort is the most hurtful of all. — Seneca, On Providence, Book IV

   If we put ourselves through difficult situations, then we're prepared for the misfortunes that might come in the future.

   Do what is hard- Joe Rogan

   If we experience discomfort and get through it, then we realize that "Oh this isn't actually so bad". This makes us more tranquil throughout life.

   We have to embrace discomfort if we forget to wear a jacket and it's cold outside, instead of taking it from a negative point of view, we should think that we're choosing the embrace the cold air, that's how you minimize feeling negative emotions.

4.  Criticism: If someone spreads a rumor about you, just say yes. If criticism is true, then work on it, and if it isn't true then ignore it.

If it doesnt harm your character; it doesnt harm your life. - Marcus Aurelius

You should feel bad for the haters because they have no better thing to do in life.

If something bad happened and you cannot change it, you just have to accept it and you can choose to be happy or sad about it, it's up to you.

5. Journaling: Taking the thoughts out of your mind and putting them down on a piece of paper makes you realize that whatever negative emotions you're feeling are inconsequential.

6.Love and Relationships: 

We can look at the things and the people we value each day with the knowledge that we will most likely lose them at some point, and love them all the more for that. One day your best friend may move away, and you may never see each other again. Loved ones may die or become estranged. Your partner, despite your promises to love each other forever, may one day leave you. Infact, it is inevitable : through death or choice, your closes relationships will end. Remembering this invites us to express our feelings to those who we love now while we can, to never take them for granted, and not to regret, when its too late, that they never know how important they were to us.- Derek Brown

Remembering this quote, we should not let meaningless things affect our relationships.