Welcome to the daily premeditation of adversity.
This practice,
Also known as the premeditatio malorum,
Or negative visualization as the Stoic writer William B.
Irvine calls it,
Encourages us to mentally confront the sources of our apprehension and fear,
Or by losing things we cherish.
Why would we do this?
The ancient Stoics realized that by practicing this counterintuitive technique,
Which has us contemplate and confront worst-case scenarios,
We can actually live with more peace.
According to Donald Robertson,
There are five psychological mechanisms that make premeditation of adversity so potent.
Number one is habituation.
The more familiar we become to something,
The less it shocks our system and causes us distress.
We adapt.
Number two is decatastrophizing.
When you face something voluntarily and examine it,
You'll typically see that it's not quite as bad as you initially thought,
As those worries and false promises and neurotic thoughts were telling you.
Number three is modeling and rehearsing coping skills.
When you practice premeditation of adversity,
It's like putting on a resilience training virtual reality headset.
Not only are you facing potential obstacles,
But you're practicing responding to them with wisdom.
Number four is the elimination of surprise.
Have you ever noticed that when you're surprised by something unfortunate,
It tends to hit a bit harder,
Almost like that comment you weren't expecting from someone,
Or the thing that happened and completely took you by surprise?
When we contemplate setbacks and obstacles,
They tend to surprise us less when they come.
And number five is reversing hedonic adaptation.
When we experience pleasurable things,
Nice things,
We tend to adapt to them.
There may be possessions that you seek,
Money or items,
Situations,
That for someone else it's just their way of life,
And they don't find it that enthralling anymore because of hedonic adaptation.
This hedonic adaptation is a real challenge in the pursuit of happiness.
The Stoics suggest that instead of chasing things,
Then getting them,
Then adapting,
We should instead learn to want what we already have.
And one way to do this is by contemplating losing the things we have so that we can bring to them a renewed sense of appreciation.
Keep in mind as you go through this exercise that what we are doing is not worrying about possible worst-case scenarios.
We are voluntarily facing and reflecting on possible setbacks,
And then psychologically practicing how we can handle them skillfully.
From a Stoic perspective,
There is no good or bad external fortune.
But rather,
They would say that good fortune is found in our ability to handle all aspects of life with wisdom.
Bad fortune handled with wisdom is better than good fortune handled unskillfully.
So when you're ready,
Let's go through the premeditation of adversity.
Alright,
So get comfortable,
Ground yourself wherever you're sitting,
Settle down,
Make the inner commitment now to drop everything that was on your mind,
You have the rest of your life after this session to deal with it.
Now I'd like you to think of a situation that induces some kind of negative emotion.
Anxiety,
Frustration,
Pain,
Something like that.
It could be something you're going through now,
Something that you've been through recently,
A problem from your past,
Or a worry about the future.
Immerse yourself in this experience.
Voluntarily face it.
Make it more vivid.
Amplify the colors,
The brightness,
The size of the image.
Make the resolution ultra crisp.
Introduce sounds,
Textures,
Atmospheric elements into the scene.
Increase the volume on the emotions that this scene brings out of you.
Replay the situation,
Whatever it is,
A few times.
And imagine that it's happening now,
You're in it from a first-person perspective.
So you're in the middle of this negative force field.
I'd like to ask you a question.
Is it the event that is making you feel this way?
Or is it your judgments about the event?
As a storytelling animal,
What sort of story are you creating about this situation and your role in it?
For example,
Are you the hero?
Or are you the victim?
Or are you the villain?
How confident are you in the narrative you're creating?
Are you 100% right about everything,
About all of the facts,
About how to interpret it?
Or are you 80% right,
Or even 40% right?
And how could you know how right you are?
Would someone else observing the situation interpret it differently?
How much has your past experiences colored the way that you're understanding what is happening?
And as you sit with these feelings,
The difficulty of the situation,
Try to just release the clenched fist in your mind,
In your body.
Welcome the energy,
However it is.
And the thoughts come and go.
Allow them to flow through you.
And instead of fighting and resisting,
Instead let's get a little bit curious.
Now ask yourself this question.
How can I open to this experience?
How can I open to this emotion?
This is a very good question to ask whenever something difficult happens.
You can shift the frame from a combative,
Resisting one,
To more of an inquisitive,
Curious one.
And therefore,
Where you can bring mindfulness and acceptance to the situation.
And with this scene that you're playing in your mind,
How can you infuse the situation with just 5% more wisdom?
What can you do differently?
And we're not looking for the perfect strategy.
We're looking for a slight improvement,
5%.
What can you do,
What can you think that could help you in this situation just a little bit more?
This is a very useful practice for lessening the potency of negative emotions.
But what about increasing positive emotion?
Let's switch now to using the same technique premeditation of adversity.
But for the cultivation of happiness and appreciation.
Think of something that is important to you.
Something that gives you joy.
It could be a job,
A relationship,
A possession,
An ability,
A hobby.
Anything that you think is valuable.
A valuable part of your life.
Now imagine that tomorrow,
For some reason,
Outside of your control,
Your access to this thing that you like changes.
Maybe it's removed or lessened.
It doesn't have to be traumatic.
But it's certainly less than ideal for you.
Now imagine living the rest of your week and the rest of your month with this new found annoyance.
Without getting the access that you want to this thing that you cherish.
What are the subtle and large hindrances and frustrations that you have to deal with now?
What is the grief or the sadness that this loss brings?
And let's think about something a bit more trivial.
Something less obvious,
Like your ability to move or drink clean water or have access to medicine or transport.
Imagine a life without this.
What would that look like?
How would you cope on a day-to-day basis?
And now to end this meditation,
Reflect on the reality that is right now.
In this moment,
You are fine.
I didn't say amazing.
I didn't say terrible.
I said fine.
Are you fine right now?
You have the things that you imagined losing.
So remember that even a single day with these things,
Which is your day-to-day,
Your life is deeply worthy of appreciation.
Fortune is fickle.
Things can change suddenly,
Even when we least expect them.
But as of this moment,
We have so much to be thankful for.
So many invisible gifts all around.
But in the end,
It is up to you to unwrap them and discover the delight within.
If someone brings you a gift,
But you aren't willing to do the work to open it,
Don't blame the person who brings the gift.
And when you are ready,
Come back to the environment.
Open your eyes and in no rush,
Start thinking about what you're going to do next.
And for the rest of the day,
Keep an active lookout for the things that you value and also the things that you take for granted.
And when you have a moment or two,
Experiment with the contemplation of loss and the contemplation of rehearsing,
Dealing with life setbacks with wisdom.
Thank you for listening to the premeditation of adversity exercise.
I'll see you back here soon.
