Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a tool to keep you on track through the day?
If you pay attention, you will notice that your mind can be a fickle thing. It can easily drift to thinking about things that are pleasurable (food, drink, entertainment, improving your status, defaulting to the easy task) and that it often tries to avoid things that may feel less desirable (the hard (but important) task, patience, disciplined focus, being OK with uncertainty, boredom or solitude).
Over the millennia, our nervous system evolved to naturally desire and pursue pleasure and to avoid pain and discomfort. This aided in survival – this is our survival brain doing its thing. However, this deeply wired-in tendency can create unproductive thinking patterns if we aren’t careful.
But try this – think of someone who you genuinely admire and make a list of the qualities you most admire in them. Most of us will end up with a list of qualities like: wise, patient, kind, good listener, courageous, disciplined, cheerful and fair.
These are the qualities we see in the best among us. Many of which might be referred to as virtues. Now compare these virtuous qualities with where your survival brain tends to go during your day. Quickly you will notice a gap! If we aren’t careful our mind spends far too much time thinking about what it likes or doesn’t like in our day.
There’s Got to Be a Better Way!?
The Stoic philosophers observed all of this more than 2,000 years ago. They noticed how our mind can easily spend its day grasping at what it desires and striving to avoid that which is undesirable. And how this didn’t seem to bring out the best in us.
Not only does it not bring out the best in us, if you are at all like me you will have experienced how our minds innate desire and avoidance tendencies become tiresome, exhausting or downright unproductive. It can feel like they consume too much of our attention and focus. There’s got to be a better way.
Stoic principles as a Better ‘Map’?
The Stoic philosophers found a way out this torment and it is a way that continues to be as practical for us today as it ever was. They realized that they needed a better ‘map’ to navigate the challenges of being human. They recognized that there is more to life than our survival brain’s natural tendency toward chasing what it likes and avoiding that which it doesn’t (both of which are unsustainable).
They saw that the greatest joy comes from choosing wisely and living with virtue. Much like the qualities in the people who we most admire.
You don’t have to be a serious Stoic to benefit from this philosophy. The Stoic precept of “focusing on what’s in your control” and letting go of what’s not is in and of itself immediately helpful. It simplifies and clarifies life, allowing your mind to stayed focused, be more productive and feel better about life. Or the practice of “What virtue could I use to best respond to this challenge?” provides endlessly better choices than the usual complaining or avoidance our flighty mind will offer up.
Three Ways Stoic Practices Can Help You
1. Clarity. My mind can easily jump around more than is helpful and lose its focus. Choosing to act with more wisdom and character makes it clear what I need to do in any given moment.
2. Confidence. The core principle of distinguishing between that which is in our control and that which is not becomes a point of confidence. No matter what happens, you realize you are always at choice. This gives you a sense of agency that no one can touch.
3. Joy and Purpose. Living by trying to placate your survival brain’s desires and by defending your beliefs eventually becomes exhausting. And the fulfillment you experience is shallow and short lived. Practicing wisdom, virtue and character changes the game to one you can win. Yes, it often requires the ‘harder’ choice in the moment. But rising to your best self throughout the day brings better focus, greater productivity and a greater sense of satisfaction and purpose.
Stoicism was never meant to be an academic exercise. It was always meant to be an aid to living life in the trenches. For many people it becomes a ‘way’ to live. A ‘map’ to better guide the daily joys and challenges of being a human.
How About You?
Where does your mind get you into trouble? What tool do you reach for when you meet unexpected challenges during the day? What guides you when wanting to pull out your phone and unconsciously lose yourself in the news or a game? Or what steers you when you are tired at the end of the day and you somehow have a fresh bag of Miss Vickie’s chips sitting beside you on the couch!?
What gives you the clarity, confidence, joy and purpose?
If you are interested in learning more about how mindfulness skills combined with “Stoic-light” practices are a “One-Two Punch” you and your team need for being more clear, productive and resilient in your world, please connect with me at scott@mindfulwisdom.ca. I look forward to helping you perform and live in a purposeful way, feeling great about the day as you fall asleep and looking forward to tomorrow!
Image Credit: Aaron Burden, Unsplash