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3 Ancient Philosophy Tips to Help You Cope With Stress
Act Like You’re Not Stressed
Stoics thought that, when experiencing a heavy emotion or mental state such as anger or stress, adopting the behavior of someone who feels the opposite way can actually help us alter our state.
Scientific evidence indicates that things like body language and forcing a smile can actually change our mental state, making us happier, less stressed, and more confident.
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Marcus Aurelius
"You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."
Premeditate
Premeditation is one of the most powerful of the Stoic tools for coping with stress. Is involves visualizing the future and imagining all the bad things that could happen.
This puts things in perspective. We tend to blow things up in our minds and make them appear much larger than they really are. By imagining all of the worst things that could happen, you come back down to earth and realize the present isn’t so bad.
Act Like You’re Not Stressed
Stoics thought that, when experiencing a heavy emotion or mental state such as anger or stress, adopting the behavior of someone who feels the opposite way can actually help us alter our state.
Scientific evidence indicates that things like body language and forcing a smile can actually change our mental state, making us happier, less stressed, and more confident.
Practice Self-Denial
Purposely deny yourself basic modern privileges, like meals, a cup of coffee or your weekend treat.
This helps you build up self-control and reminds you to appreciate what you have, which helps put the things you’re anxious about in perspective. Both gratitude and self-control are required to manage stress at its root instead of just dealing with it as it comes up.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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A practical philosophical school
Stoicism became popular in the Roman Empire. Slaves like Epictetus, rich people like Seneca or emperors like Marcus Aurelius found guidance for life in it.
Events don’t upset you
Beliefs about events do. Bad feelings are caused by irrational beliefs, so if you’re feeling negative emotions, focus on the belief you hold about what happens.
For stoics there is no good or bad, there’s only perception. And you control perception.
Control what you can
Ignore the rest. We worry about things that we have no control over. But worrying never fixed anything.
The stoics are saying that if you focus your energy on what you can change, you’re going to be a lot more productive and effective.
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At the very root of Stoicism there is a very simple, though not easy, way of living: Take obstacles in your life and turn them into your advantage, control what you can and accept what yo...
At the very root of Stoicism there is a very simple, though not easy, way of living: Take obstacles in your life and turn them into your advantage, control what you can and accept what you can’t.
“In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where wil...
“In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices.” - Epictetus:
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Inversion
Is the way of thinking in which you consider the opposite of what you want.
Inversion puts a spotlight on errors and roadblocks that are not obvious at first glance. What if the opposi...
The "kill the company" strategy
The idea is to identify challenges and points of failure so you can develop a plan to prevent them ahead of time.
Imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now. Then fast forward 6 months and assume the project or goal has failed. Tell the story of how it happened and ask yourself, “What could cause this to go horribly wrong?”
Inversion and productivity
Applying inversion to productivity you could ask, “What if I wanted to decrease my focus? How do I end up distracted?”
The answer to these question may help you discover interruptions you can eliminate to free up more time and energy each day.
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Inversion
It is a mental model, a way of thinking backward about what you don’t want to happen. It is about taking an idea upside down and thinking about what could go wrong.
Avoiding failure
Avoiding mistakes is an under-appreciated way to improve.
In most jobs, you can enjoy some degree of success simply by being proactive and reliable—even if you are not particularly smart, fast, or talented in a given area. Sometimes it is more important to consider why people fail in life than why they succeed.
Project Management
Failure Premortem/ Kill the company: one of the applications of inversion, in which you imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now, then fast forward six months and assume the project or goal has failed.
Tell the story of how it happened. What went wrong? What mistakes did you make? How did it fail?
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Aristotle gave us an alternative conception of happiness
It cannot be acquired by pleasurable experiences but only by identifying and realizing our own potential, moral and creative, in our specific environments, with our particular family, friends and colleagues, and helping others to do so.
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Stoicism
Stoicism, a 3rd-century philosophy from Athens and later Rome, is a pragmatic, realistic and practical way of addressing life's problems.
Whether we are overworked, stressed, or struggl...
Stoicism in Today's World
The central message of Stoicism is that we do not control life and our situations, but we control how we respond to those circumstances.
The thinking of the Stoics related to anger management, the endurance of hardships, fear of death, and handling of success or failure, is extremely relevant in today's world.
Resurgence Of Stoicism
Though earlier people misread stoicism as a philosophy based on austerity and lack of emotion, now there is a resurgence in the real thinking of stoicism, which was overlooked all these years.
Stoicism is finding resonance in today's complex world, and its philosophies seem to be understood in the intended sense.
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Hidden Gems From Ancient Philosophers
- The people you interact with the most influence your behavior. Consciously consider whom you allow into your life.
- Things can go wrong, anticipate worst-case scenarios to...
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Pragmatism — as opposed to perfectionism — does not share the same paralyzing hang-ups; it takes what it can get. Our pursuits should be aimed at prog...
Pragmatism — as opposed to perfectionism — does not share the same paralyzing hang-ups; it takes what it can get. Our pursuits should be aimed at progress, no matter how much it’s possible for us to make. 🔗
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Stoic Philosophy
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 mainta...
Epictetus
“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well.”
Suffering and Desire
Buddha taught that there is suffering in this world, it is inevitable, and the root cause of suffering is mainly the desires we feel.
We want something, always, and feel miserable when we don't get it.
Stoicism teaches us to live in accordance with nature and to accept that suffering will manifest in different ways in our lives.
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Stoicism: the art of staying calm
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that was founded by Zeno of Citium, in Athens, in the early 3rd century BC.
It is an ancient tool for remaining calm in adversity, a philosophical ...