Welcome to Vol. 6 of our Perennial Habits course. Thank you to everyone who voted in our poll; based on the results, our first meetup will be on Monday (3 Jun) at 3:00 pm EST (Register here). I hope to see you there!
A quick review: our first meditation discussed How to Change When Change is Hard and the need for clarity, motivation, and shaping the path for change. Next, we talked about How to “Think” About Change, which discussed the stages of change and the notion of cognitive flexibility. Then, we explored The Paradox of Small Changes, which focused on thinking big and small. Followed by Becoming Every Day: A User’s Guide and Discerning the Way.
A Simple, But Not Easy Stoic Exercise
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus drew a line down the middle of life: on one side is what is under our complete control, and on the other is what is not under our complete control. He called this the chief task in life—to identify and separate matters so that we can clearly tell ourselves which are externals not under our control and which have to do with the choices we actually control.
As we’ll discover throughout this course, like the cardinal virtues, many of our habits are interconnected and work in concert. For example, in our last meditation, Discerning the Way, we discussed contemplating and creating clarity around what truly matters to us.
Once we determine what matters, we must discern whether or not it is within our control. The opening passage of Epictetus’s Enchiridion describes what is often referred to as the dichotomy of control this way,
Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.
It sounds simple enough — in theory. But in practice, turning our attention and effort to what is actually up to us can be highly challenging.
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