Practical Life Philosophy
In our daily lives, we forget this timeless formula: the things that seem to be blocking us are small and the obstacles blocking us are actually providing us answers for where to go next.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
- In any and every situation—no matter how bad or seemingly undesirable it is—we have the opportunity to practice a virtue.
- Stoics like to refer to the phrase amor fati–loving the things that happen to us.
Stoic philosophy can be cultivated as a practical philosophy:
- Seeing the good in everything that happens around us, not feeling hijacked or negatively affected by fate and life events.
- Treating life as an experiment, not being overly attached to things, people and decisions.
RELATED IDEAS
Stoicism acknowledges the challenges we face and teaches us practical lessons so that we may overcome whatever stands in our way. By taking a practical approach to happiness, we learn how to maintain it for longer periods of time and help others do the same.
Most people want more done during the course of the day, feeling productive if they have checked more boxes out of their to-do list. Time management has been a fad for a long time, equating productivity with the number of hours spent working.
The way we approach time management is proving to be a vicious circle of wasting time managing time, turning it into a problem rather than a solution towards productivity.
Take Stoicism, if you want to live according to virtue, you know, applying reason (wisdom), courage, justice, and temperance, then you necessarily need to be mindful of what you’re doing. You are mindful when you self-monitor and observe your thoughts and actions, as they happen, in the here and now. So that you are fully aware of what you are doing at each instant.