I am a very routine-focused person, so this is a good one for me to practice — changing my schedule in a way I usually perceive as “negative” (not getting home from work at a particular time, having to do an extra chore, etc.), but instead thinking about it in neutral terms.
This brings to mind the subject of lesson 6 and adds another tool to practise being prepared for adversity.Shifting the focus from the new I phone to establishing a strategy for dealing with anxiety about future adversity appears to be a lot more conducive.
Massimo could you talk some more about this " mind trick " as it applies here,what is meant by that and what other Stoic mind tricks have you encountered.
Oh, I used that phrase because I sometimes hear people dismiss Stoicism as "just a mind trick." To me, life itself is a mind trick, in the sense that we navigate it by way of framing things in one way or another in our mind. Stoicism is, in that sense, a mind trick, meaning a particular way to think about life and how to live it.
Massimo, as a follow-up to the previous comments, I found exercises 6 & 10 presented in another Stoic source as different variations of the same exercise. Would you say that's appropriate?
From The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber, the practice is called Voluntary Discomfort and they present three forms of it: 1) Temporary Poverty, 2) Get Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations, and 3) Purposefully Forgo Pleasure. The first two seem to follow from your 6th exercise and third one from your 10th.
The reason I asked was because lesson 6 is a bit difficult for me for psychosomatic reasons to put into practice. But lesson 10 feels doable, so it felt like consolation to me if I could practise it as a variation of lesson 6! 😀
I am a very routine-focused person, so this is a good one for me to practice — changing my schedule in a way I usually perceive as “negative” (not getting home from work at a particular time, having to do an extra chore, etc.), but instead thinking about it in neutral terms.
This brings to mind the subject of lesson 6 and adds another tool to practise being prepared for adversity.Shifting the focus from the new I phone to establishing a strategy for dealing with anxiety about future adversity appears to be a lot more conducive.
Exactly. As often with Stoicism, it's a "mind trick," but a crucial one: reframe things in order to live a better life.
Massimo could you talk some more about this " mind trick " as it applies here,what is meant by that and what other Stoic mind tricks have you encountered.
Oh, I used that phrase because I sometimes hear people dismiss Stoicism as "just a mind trick." To me, life itself is a mind trick, in the sense that we navigate it by way of framing things in one way or another in our mind. Stoicism is, in that sense, a mind trick, meaning a particular way to think about life and how to live it.
Bill Irvine has written an entire book about this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43726564-the-stoic-challenge
Makes sense to me,"their mind trick" is my anchor to sanity. 🙃
Thank you
Massimo, as a follow-up to the previous comments, I found exercises 6 & 10 presented in another Stoic source as different variations of the same exercise. Would you say that's appropriate?
Jim, not sure. You might need to elaborate about the source and the presentation.
From The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber, the practice is called Voluntary Discomfort and they present three forms of it: 1) Temporary Poverty, 2) Get Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations, and 3) Purposefully Forgo Pleasure. The first two seem to follow from your 6th exercise and third one from your 10th.
Well, these exercises are common knowledge. Of course, if someone takes them from another book they should acknowledge the source.
The reason I asked was because lesson 6 is a bit difficult for me for psychosomatic reasons to put into practice. But lesson 10 feels doable, so it felt like consolation to me if I could practise it as a variation of lesson 6! 😀