February 27, 2018: Distractions

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.9
“Drama, combat, terror, numbness, and subservience-everyday these things wipe out your sacred principles, whenever your ind entertains them uncritically or lets them slip in.”

In order to succeed in most of the aspects in stoicism, one must be able to avoid distractions that will inevitably come up. It may be in the form of an agitated person in a fight with his girlfriend, negative individuals who are always complaining, or just any type of obstacle. Do not let any of these negatives get into your mind or if they do stay there.

For instance if you have a flight delayed, do not let it stay in your mind long, acknowledge that it has happened and move on with your life. Today, when you run into that negative person, try not to let their complaints be your complaints, if they complain about the coffee, don’t think about it, if they complain about their job, don’t think about it, don’t let it get in!

Lastly, I have found that even with close family members and friends that when I tell them I 'worry' less and do not let things get to me as easily since I started attempting practice of stoicism, I have been accused of 'not caring'. At first I tried to defend myself and stoicism and state that its not that I do not care, but that I don't let it take over my mind. I've found this makes A LOT of people uneasy for some reason, and unfortunately have stopped telling people about my stoic ways. I still have a lot to learn myself and maybe I can explain better to those around me that accuse me of not caring, but right now its been very difficult to get them to see it my way! So don't let others get you down, don't let things persist in your mind, since you have control of that.