Imagine embracing every twist and turn of your life,
Both the pleasant and painful,
With open arms.
This is the profound stoic philosophy of amor fati,
Or love of fate.
It's not a form of passive acceptance.
In fact,
Amor fati encourages active enthusiasm toward every event in life.
My goal with this podcast is to give you the full breakdown and the meaning of what amor fati is,
Its stoic origins,
Quotes that are related to it,
Some real world examples,
And actionable strategies so that you can start applying this concept,
This technique to your daily life starting today.
So amor fati is a Latin phrase and it simply means love of fate,
Or love your fate,
And it's deeply rooted in stoic philosophy.
So the idea here is that rather than just enduring what happens or accepting what happens,
Amor fati advocates actively embracing every experience as valuable,
Necessary,
And something that you would choose if you were able to.
Friedrich Nietzsche is famous for popularizing this concept,
And he wrote,
Quote,
My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati,
That one wants nothing to be different,
Not forward,
Not backward,
Not in all eternity,
Not merely bear what is necessary,
But love it,
End quote.
So this perspective isn't about blind positivity.
It's not about just being okay with whatever life throws at you.
Instead,
There's an important shift here that empowers individuals to focus from uncontrollable external circumstances to instead choosing to love,
To want,
To need the thing that is happening to them in this moment.
So while Nietzsche popularized amor fati,
The concept traces back to the ancient stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius Epictetus and Seneca.
So Marcus Aurelius' meditations,
He described viewing faith as part of a harmonious cosmic order,
Writing,
Quote,
Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time,
End quote.
He urged acceptance and appreciation of life's events,
Encouraging us to see adversity as an opportunity for growth rather than something to shrink from.
Epictetus was born into slavery and physically impaired,
Some say by his master,
And he is a living exemplification of amor fati.
In his handbook,
The Enchiridion,
He writes,
Quote,
Do not seek for things to happen the way you want,
Rather wish that what happens happens the way it happens,
Then you will be happy,
End quote.
So Epictetus turned personal hardships into profound wisdom and has influenced many,
Many millions of lives.
Seneca emphasized character building through challenges,
Noting,
Quote,
The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity,
End quote.
So he had a view that adversity and difficulty and challenge was a test of virtue and allowed us to meet our potential.
Nietzsche,
A student of stoicism and philosophy in general,
The ancients,
He revitalized this concept of amor fati in the 19th century and he linked it to the concept of his eternal recurrence,
The idea of living the same life repeatedly.
And he declared in the gay science,
Quote,
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things,
Then I shall be one of those who makes things beautiful,
End quote.
Throughout history,
Notable figures have embodied amor fati,
Transforming suffering into significance.
Epictetus,
Who we've already talked about briefly,
Was a slave who turned into a very influential philosopher and he embraced adversity.
People like Nelson Mandela,
Imprisoned for 27 years,
He was also an advocate of the concept of amor fati,
Learning to accept it and choose the fate that he was given,
Emerging with wisdom and ultimately being able to lead South Africa,
Which is pretty crazy considering he was imprisoned for 27 years.
Victor Frankel,
Who wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning,
Was a holocaust survivor who developed a form of therapy called logotherapy,
Which focuses on finding meaning in suffering or whatever is going on in your life.
Okay,
So we have now a basic picture of what amor fati is,
The origins,
Why it could be useful to us.
I mean,
The fact that Nietzsche said that it is the formula for greatness,
I mean,
That alone should be something that piques our interest.
Then the question is,
How do we actually practice this in daily life?
So there are three steps to doing this.
So step one is to reframe adversities as opportunities.
So anytime you get a setback,
See it as an essential challenge that is designed specifically to help you build resilience and wisdom.
Any adversity is an opportunity.
Look every time for the opportunity.
Step two is to apply the dichotomy of control.
The dichotomy of control is a stoic concept that has us divide life into two categories,
Things that are up to us,
Things that we do control,
And things that are not up to us,
Things that we don't control.
So for example,
We don't control the weather,
We don't control other people's responses.
We don't really control the external world,
But we do control our responses,
Our opinions,
Our considered judgments,
For example.
So thinking about,
Well,
What is up to me here,
What is not up to me here is step two.
And then the aim is to release worry over the uncontrollable external factors.
And then step three is to have gratitude for every moment.
So regularly acknowledge even difficult events as contributors to personal growth and character.
And you can practice this in the past as well.
It doesn't have to be with what's happening now.
You can look back over things that have already happened and say,
Well,
How was this an opportunity?
What did that lead to for me?
Or you can look back and go,
Well,
What was or wasn't within my control in that situation?
And also why am I now grateful that that happened?
How did that help me in some way?
So the key insight here is that amor fati doesn't deny life's struggles.
It transforms how you perceive them.
Adopting amor fati as a permanent mindset will significantly improve your mental health,
No doubt,
And emotional resilience.
By reframing adversity positively,
You'll reduce anxiety,
Anger,
Depression.
And the Stoics assert that embracing fate cultivates inner peace and inner strength.
I spoke to Donald Robertson in a podcast and asked him,
Can you ever go too far with positive reframing things like amor fati?
And he said,
Essentially in 20 plus years of therapy and speaking to everyone about Stoicism across the globe,
He's never seen a negative use case,
Positive reframing.
Some critics may say that embracing amor fati might make you complacent or passive,
Especially when you're in extreme hardship or injustice.
The Stoics would say,
Well,
We don't think this is a fair criticism because amor fati is about active acceptance.
It's not about passive resignation.
It's about choosing your response and then allowing the situation to help build and shape your character and allow you to be a person of integrity.
So amor fati,
While it can be used as a sort of shallow concept in the moment,
Ultimately can be a form of deep transformation with your relationship of life,
Of existence,
Of consciousness.
So rather than resist reality,
The Stoics would encourage you to embrace every experience wholeheartedly.
Remember,
It is not what happens to you,
But how you react to it that matters.
And start today by choosing to love your fate,
However it is,
Whatever situation you find yourself in.
And watch as your resilience,
Wisdom,
And inner peace grow.
