Practice like a Stoic: 50, Decompose your difficulties

You are facing a challenge. What, exactly, is so unbearable about it?

Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Altenberg, Austria. Photo by the Author.

[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic.Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of the pertinent philosophical background. Check the book for details on how to practice the exercise, download the exercise forms from The Experiment’s website, and comment below on how things are going. Greg and/or I will try our best to help out! This week’s exercise is found at pp. 285-287 of the paperback edition.]

“Do not let the impression of life as a whole confound you. Do not focus in one all the train of possible and painful consequences; but as each trouble comes, say to yourself: What is there here too hard to bear or to endure? And you will be ashamed to avow it so. And yet again remember, that you have not to bear up against the future or the past, but always against the present only. And even that you minimize, when you strictly circumscribe it to itself, and repudiate moral inability to hold out merely against that.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.36)

The Stoics often rephrase or decompose impressions in order to arrive at better judgments. We have recently encountered a number of these exercises. In Week 44, Marcus broke down the sources of his desires to remind himself that they were not, in fact, so desirable. In Week 49, Epictetus suggested using neutral language whenever we are tempted to judge others. This week we learn another way: Rephrase or break down elements into component parts—this time in order to deal with our aversions.