Stoicism in the face of uncertainty
Stoicism is a philosophical movement of the Hellenistic period, famously led by Lucius Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, used as a tool to pursue self-mastery, perseverance and wisdom. In its simplest form it is a framework one uses to manage the ebbs and flows of our everyday which leads to living a full and wholesome existence.
The stoics believe that the answer to life is virtue, and virtue is made up of wisdom, justice, courage and moderation. They challenge us to face everything as if it is an opportunity to respond with virtue. Considering this interpretation, we can use stoicism as the rudder to steer our lives, by creating simple and practical strategies to assimilate into our daily routine.
To be a good human
As all roads lead to Rome, all stoic philosophers lead back to the fundamental principle that each human has the responsibility to first and foremost be a good person. A famous zen practice says that ‘in order to alleviate the suffering of ourselves, we must try alleviate the suffering of others’. This is a great practical tool to embrace when considering this point, if everyday we attempt to do something for someone else, without the need for it to be reciprocated, we will undoubtedly create an incredibly powerful and positive environment for both ourselves and those around us.
Embrace choice
Stoicism holds the belief that we must accept that we have very little control of life but we have total control of how we react and what it means to us. Headpsace recently shared a brilliant message, ‘Acceptance doesn’t mean apathy. It means seeing clearly from a place of calm, knowing when to act, knowing when to let go’. This mentality is aligned to what the stoics debated and wrote about, understanding that life will not always go to plan, but we can always choose how to react, even if that is after the fact. If we consider the practicality to this, we can create daily habits to reflect how we are feeling, what still needs to be done and ascertain what we could do differently.
Create perspective
‘… the stars wash away the dust of early life’- Aurelius
This stoic concept relates to the size of the universe versus the size of the challenges we face, by creating a comparison of your own existence to the nights sky, we can very quickly accept that while what we are facing may be difficult and very often unpleasant, it is not the end of the world. Taking a step back and giving ourselves both space and time, we create perspective and with that we can consider the next best point of action. When you are next battling with something, try recognise it and look up, realise where you are and create tangible space between yourself and the problem.
Laurie Santos, a cognitive scientist and professor at Yale, was recently interviewed on the Trained by Nike podcast, and she too has been influenced by stoic philosophy, in particular a concept called negative visualisation. This is the practice of imagining what life would be like in the counterfactual, so whatever you are doing right now, imagine you no longer could do that. Instantly it becomes clear what you hold dear but may sometimes overlook, breaking the complacency and allowing you to be more grateful and present in what you are doing.
Just do it
The world renown slogan of Nike fits in perfectly here, as stoics believed wholeheartedly that we can only pursue self-mastery, perseverance and wisdom by applying the above mentioned strategies every single day. Now this seems an incredibly obvious and self-explanatory point, but it is imperative to apply ourselves consistently in order to achieve positive change and growth.
We can all adopt a more stoic philosophy to our everyday, which in turn allow us to cultivate a healthy environment both internally and externally, help us cope when things get tough.
Tom Bednall
Commercial Director