Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The philosophy track that is short in length,
But not in depth.
The Stoics were all about making the most of life.
A good life.
A happy life.
As Marcus Aurelius writes,
Very little is needed to make a happy life.
It is all within yourself,
In your way of thinking.
He goes on,
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
Then later still,
He writes this,
The soul becomes dyed with the color of your thoughts.
So it's clear that the Stoics,
And particularly Marcus Aurelius,
Placed a large value on how we thought.
However,
You may say to me that thoughts are automatic,
So that's totally unfair.
Two things I want to tell you about that.
Sure,
What thoughts pop into your head is sometimes automatic.
However,
How long we entertain those thoughts is totally up to us.
Is this a thought we want to let go of or spend time with?
That's a choice we make.
The Stoics called this act of promoting an automatic thought to the conscious mind,
Ascent,
Because you are promoting the thought up the hierarchy from automatic to chosen.
So what's the harm in promoting thoughts that aren't particularly useful to us?
Well,
Each time you interact with the thought that you give your attention to,
You feed that thought,
And so it gets stronger and bigger and dominates the other thoughts.
In a neurological sense,
You lay down neural pathways that make this thought or thought pattern easier to ascend,
Like building a highway for it to enter your conscious mind.
We have to be careful what thoughts we give access to this highway.
What thoughts do you want to have access to your cognitive power,
Because they will become who you are.
Think about your feed on social media.
The things you engage with dictate what gets promoted your way.
The same is true for your thoughts.
Jim Rohn famously says that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
The Stoics would say you are the product of the thoughts you spend the most time with.
So choose both your company and your thoughts wisely.
This takes work,
Of course,
And it starts simply by recognizing that you have a choice in your thoughts.
Then mindfully examine your thoughts and ask if they represent who you want to be.
If they do not,
Then do not give them your time.
Do not feed them.
Do not build them the highway to your mind.
Now a caveat here.
If there are thoughts that continue to come up obsessively,
No matter how much you consider them,
And they become a problem,
Then always seek professional help.
Okay,
That's my bit.
Now go look after your thoughts and think yourself happy.
Thanks for joining me.
And if you enjoyed this,
Please check out my course,
Stoicism,
Particularly the latest one,
Seven Days of Stoic Strength.
I think you're going to really enjoy it.
Thank you.
