Silent and Humble

We all have a mistaken belief that happiness can be bought by money, and that more is always better, or that success at the cost of integrity is a great bargain.

Living well means shifting our focus from external stuff we feel will bring us happiness, towards our own behaviour, judgements, pursuit and preferences. Working over our own inner worlds and behaviour is a kind of inner engineering which is deeply fulfilling, and is beyond material wealth or popularity.

Shifting our focus from the external to the internal is no easy task, and this was anticipated by ancient philosophers. Many of them understood that living in accordance with this philosophy requires continuous effort.

Like the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius, one has to mentally prepare themselves for the challenges that might be faced by them each day. This can be done by certain spiritual exercises, guidelines that ready the mind and encourage an attitude of compassion.

Always apply reason and try to do the right thing. Act according to the virtues (practical) wisdom, justice, courage, and self-discipline. The results of your virtuous actions are not entirely up to you and therefore should not be the motive for the actions in the first place. Focus on what you can control, which is to act excellently in terms of your character.

The most appealing aspect of Stoicism is that we are responsible for our flourishing because all that truly matters in life is up to us. So the key lesson to take away here is to focus our attention and efforts where we have the most power and then let the universe take care of the rest.