I'm currently sitting on a train - speeding through the darkness - heading home towards Stockholm, while contemplating the contents of this article. 🙏🏼

Image Source

Life Update

I've spent the last few days at my parents house in Gothenburg - feeling quite low on energy and been battling a minor cold - so other than Steemit I've just been focusing on getting my energy levels back on top.

Tomorrow begins a new weekly routine; where I will spend half at a major financial bank working with AI & machine learning as part of my studies, and the other half at my "regular" work as a programmer at a startup. Weekends will be spent studying - and of course - Steemit will as usual be an integral part of my daily hustle.

Besides an ice-climbing trip coming up in Norway this will be the ongoing weekly routine until summer. Metaphorically I like to view my life as seasons, so I'd like to think that I'm now planting my seeds to later reap in summer.

Anyways, thought it would be nice to give you guys a little update before diving into the goodies 🙏🏼

Earlier today I picked up a book I've been having on hold for a little while; Stoicism and the Art of Happiness authored by Donald Robertson.

It's one of those books you can have in the dusty part of your bookshelf and read every now and again - pick up a golden nugget or two - and just remind yourself of the book's essentials.

This was definitely the case today as I read a chapter, refreshed some key ideas and pondered some profound concepts.

As a side note I won't delve into any details regarding the Stoic concepts mentioned, likely you won't have any problems grasping the philosophical thoughts and ideas but for further studies I would refer you to my previous article or to Google.

Without further ado, let's get into som ancient truths that when applied, may revolutionize your modern life. ✌🏼

Stoicism and the Art of Happiness

Nature itself teaches us that if we want true Happiness, and the good life, we must seek it within ourselves rather than in external things. If we can only do this consistently, Epictetus says, we will achieve perfect freedom, and liberate ourselves from emotional suffering.

If you wish any good thing, get it from yourself. (Discourses, 1.29)

While most of us are aware of the fact that true Happiness may only arise from within, the problem I see is that the large majority of people mistakenly judge superficial and external things to be intrinsically 'good', 'helpful' or 'desirable' - which the Stoics meant is the basis of excessive craving for pleasure, wealth, reputation etcetera.

For example, an excessive feeling of craving towards wealth, is the judgement that money is intrinsically 'good', combined with the intention to obtain it. We mistakenly judge external things to play an integral part of our personal happiness, which in turn leads to emotional disturbance.

We must learn to make a correct distinction between what is internal versus what is external, and choose our values accordingly. Only then can we take full control of our emotional wellbeing and obtain eudaimonia (Happiness).

Image Source

The Stoic virtues of 'courage' and 'self-discipline' appear to presuppose that the Sage actually experiences something akin to fear and desire - otherwise he has no feeling to overcome.

There is this misconception that being a Stoic means not experiencing any emotions whatsoever and being in a state of apathy. In reality it is the opposite.

A brave man isn't someone who doesn't experience any trace of fear, but someone who acts courageously despite feeling anxiety.

Just as someone who has great self-discipline isn't someone who feels no inkling of desire but someone who overcomes his cravings - by abstaining from acting upon them.

The Sage conquers his emotional disturbances by becoming stronger than them, not by eliminating all traces of emotion from his life.

This is an extremely key idea.

You should never blame yourself or feel bad for experiencing negative emerging emotions, but rather learning not to go along with or act upon them.

Magic Bullet of the Day

Today's magic bullet is a challenge, a Stoic challenge that I find invites a profound paradigm shift in thought:

Instead of eating healthy in the pursuit of loosing weight which in a sense is out of your control. Focus instead on the inherent value of developing self-discipline and character.

Enjoy Sunday and crush it this week everyone! 👊🏼

Previous 'Better You' articles

Better You #7 : Increase Your Social Intelligence - How to Deal with People.
Better You #6 : How to Deal with Failure
Better You #5 : How to Become a Professional and Conquer Resistance
Better You #4 : The Difficult Art of Relaxation & The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck
Better You #3 : Investing $1000 in Steem. Inside suffering is the seed of change.
Better You #2 : Hacks to improve your sleep and practical tips & thoughts to enhance your life
Better You #1 : A new Steemit project to help us all become the best version of ourselves