Stoicism —Exploring Nuances of Emotions

We are what we are repeatedly do and that excellence is habit — Aristotle
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. — Seneca

stoicism : /ˈstəʊɪsɪz(ə)m/

Stoicism as a way of living

I had the preconceived notion of a stoic equivalent to being a zen master, appearing calm and peaceful, meditating on a mountain. As a young adult hustling and busy navigating through the uncertainties, I have to admit that it first appeared to me rather unrealistic and ancient.

Funny enough it was in the midst of doing nothing that I have chanced upon a Ted talk on the brief introduction on stoicism. I found it interesting and started to read more on the school of thoughts. Now, I am sharing some of my favourite takeaways from stoicism — a philosophy of life to achieve internal freedom!

Origin of Stoicism

Stoicism is one of the philosophical movement hails from the Hellenistic Period in Rome and Greece. Founded by Zeno of Citium, The Stoic School of philosophy in Athens essentially taught the development of self-control and personal mastery to achieve internal freedom and happiness. The name stoicism originated from Stoa Poikile, the open market in Athens where the Stoics used to meet and teach philosophy. Some of the ancient remarkable figures who practice stoicism include Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca.

The dichotomy of control — Deciding on how it can and should affect us

Stoicism is a way of living that is particularly useful as a guide for highly challenging circumstances. One of the key teachings surrounding stoicism is to focus on what you can control and not those you can’t. For instances, we can control the corresponding actions to a certain situation by first rethinking how it should affect us. Instead of plunging into negative emotions, stoicism suggests shifting our mindset and view the situation from a different perspective. Essentially, this pillar of thinking suggests that reframing our mindset would cascade into bigger and impactful changes and this echoes the modern saying of “there is no use of crying over spilt milk”.

Stoicism may come off as emotionless as feelings are viewed to be disposable, however, the idea is not about hiding feelings, it's about genuine realisation and innate paradigm shift on how we treat life, one can now think objectively and decide logically and positive emotion is simply a downstream side effect that comes together with the better decision and overall well-being. This idea of stoicism is particularly applicable in the world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity as emotions tend to get in the way of things.

4 virtues of Stoicism

While stoicism encourages independence of thoughts from emotions, it anchors on 4 main virtues namely, wisdom, courage, temperance and justice.

Wisdom — “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” — Viktor Frankl

Ability to differentiate between what is internal and external, what is within our control and what is not, Ability to decide on the reaction to an incident rather than the other way round.

Courage — Persist and Resist even odds aren’t in your favour

Each challenge against the status quo requires an enormous amount of courage, to resist comfort and external stimuli. Courage to stand firm on your ground and hold onto your belief and truth

Justice

The basis on how we decide to be wise and courageous
Uphold what is right Not to inflict harm on others

Temperance and Moderation

Objectively view your desire To understand what is essential, ditch the excess and overcome your desire Self- control Just enough

Mantras that I have been keeping in mind

The idea of stoicism is not unfamiliar and very much adapted even in today’s society through religion, self-enrichment and self-help despite its ancient history. I personally find that the idea of stoicism is very liberating and indeed helpful. Below are just some of my favourite ideas adapted from stoicism.

Not to attach self-esteem to the outcome — something that is not within your control.

Not to use the outcome as a measure of self-value. Always judge with a different perspective, especially in an undesirable situation.

Liberate yourself and actions from your emotion to achieve the greater good

Not about controlling the surrounding, but rather taking charge of how we choose to respond to them, and this creates a self-perpetuated positive feedback loop in our overall wellbeing.

Some recommended readings: 12 Rules of Life; An antidote to chaos by Jordan Peterson; Meditations by Marcus Aurelius