A New Discovery: Stoicism

May 29, 2021

A New Discovery: Stoicism

Stoicism

This word - an ancient philosophy - got my attention this week. I hate the Vietnamese translation of it, Khắc Kỷ, period. But I'm all ears to learn more about the philosophy itself.

Stoicism is not emotionlessness.

Some well-known Stoics:

George Washington - 1st US President
Thomas Jefferson - 3rd US President
Theodore Roosevelt - 26th US President
Donald J. Trump - 45th US president --- Okay, I'm kidding!
Walt Whitman - US poet, journalist
Frederick the Great - King of Prussia
Eugène Delacroix - French romantic artist
Adam Smith - Scottish economic, philosopher
Immanuel Kant - German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers
Matthew Arnold - English poet and cultural critic
Ambrose Bierce - American short story writer, journalist, poet, and Civil War veteran
William Alexander Percy - American lawyer, planter, and poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson - American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet

𓏞 𓏣 𓏟

Am I a Stoic by its definition? Yes. Wait, no! Had I become a Stoic during the course of my life? Yes.

So how to become more Stoic? Or how to become a Stoic?

1 - Be aware of what you can control

The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we can change and what we can't.

2 - Write journals

A journal is a notebook of thoughts, writing is how we exercise our mind, a form of self-examination. In Stoicism, the art of journaling is more than some simple diary. This daily practice is the philosophy. Preparing for the day ahead. Reflecting on the day that has passed. Reminding oneself of the wisdom we have learned from our teachers, from our reading, from our own experiences. It’s not enough to simply hear these lessons once, instead, one practices them over and over again, turns them over in their mind, and most importantly, writes them down and feels them flowing through their fingers in doing so.

3 - Take perspective

Marcus called it taking the view from above, as a bird. Get yourself out of the situation, the current view, the hole, the well. Look at things from a different point of view, different angles with a broader lens.

4 - Remember that all things are temporary

Remember that achievement can be ephemeral and that your possession of them is for just an instant. So if everything is temporary, then what matters? Right now matters. Being a good person and doing the right things right now matters.

𓏞 𓏣 𓏟