JKLTip Make a commitment to put energy only into what you can control
Do you try to incorporate stoicism into your mental health strategy? If there is no enemy within, then the enemy outside can do us no harm. I often hear people say things like, we should check in on “so and so” because they are “stoic” all the time.
The way I view stoicism, it can never be a negative thing. In my mind if someone is being stoic, they are not putting on a mask. They are in fact able to keep a genuine stoic mindset.
Some people will put on a front, pretending like things don’t bother them. But that is not stoicism. I think it’s easy to agree that we face a dynamic, in some ways mad world these days. But, the crazier it gets, the more important it is to focus our energy only on what we can control. We have a chance to control our thoughts and actions. That’s it.
It’s ok to make a commitment to eternal optimism. We can establish the fact that nothing external can disturb our peace of mind. We should forget mistakes of the past, and worry not about plans for the future, but be relentlessly appreciative of the present moment.
Emotions will come and go regardless of our approach. Emotions are not something we can control. We should appreciate happiness, sadness, and anger for what they are. The emotions are symptoms of our circumstances in life and we should let them flow. But, all the while we can make a commitment to channel our energy exclusively toward that which we can control. Everything else is not worth our energy. This version of stoicism is worth living. All day, every day, forever.
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