My Year of Stoicism

I have shown a much greater interest in Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca over the past several months and am working to apply the teachings of Stoicism as I go through the day. Each day is filled with the opportunity to apply a Life Philosophy. And what is a Life Philosophy? It's a set of tools to manage the one's life. When confronted with anything in one's daily activities there is an opportunity to apply a system of ideas so that, basically, one does not waste one's life focused on the wrong thoughts. The basic rule, as I see it, is that we are in control of our own minds, we can choose what to believe and understand how we came to that believe. We can decide if it's rational or based on some false impressions. We can control our impressions. We can see what is within out control and what is out of our control.

That is rule one, when going through my day, I need to clearly see I am in control of my mind, I can direct my thoughts and actions.