
It’s never what you think that unsettles you. It’s the fact that you think without seeing.
Learn to control them,
your opinions.
Easy to say, hard to do.
>> I know.<<
That's precisely why I created the mmmarcus app, because it's about establishing a whole system of beliefs, spiritual exercises like meditation, focusing on the present moment, breaking things down and seeing them for what they are, setting up Stoic habits in your life, like asking yourself key questions when events occur, "does it depend on me or does it not depend on me?", which over time become tools that are automatically triggered when a certain situation occurs.
Epictetus, the freed slave, teaches us that the key to serenity lies in our ability to control our inner reactions and perceptions. In chapter 5 of the Manual that we find the most famous statement of Stoicism: "What troubles people isn't things, but their opinions about things." :
Think about it.
Study it.
Take it apart,
and my advice: make it your mantra, one that you'll keep in mind at all times.
“It is not the things themselves that disturb men,
but their judgements about these things.
For example, death is nothing dreadful, or else Socrates 1 too would have thought so,
but the judgement that death is dreadful, this is the dreadful thing.
When, therefore, we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never blame anyone but ourselves, that means, our own judgements.
Blaming others for our troubles is a sign of ignorance;
starting to take responsibility indicates the beginning of wisdom;
and reaching a point where we blame neither others nor ourselves shows true enlightenment.”