Some things are under our control and some things are not under our control.
Don’t aim or expect to avoid thing outside of your control.
Recognise all the things you possess and mentally prepare to lose them.
Have a goal to remain tranquil, when things go wrong you can still succeed in your goal of remaining tranquil by choosing to do so.
It is not things that disturb us, but our judgement about them. When you are disturbed do not blame anyone but yourself.
Don’t take pride in the things, not your own.
Be prepared for the emergency to occur in life.
Accept what happen.
Your mind is separate to your body. Body injuries are not excused for poor morals.
For every challenge there is a solution, remain calm and decide how best to deal with them as they come.
Everything in life is temporary, be prepared to lose everything eventually.
Don’t let your peace of mind-dependent upon externals, with small breakages or troubles; tell yourself they are the price you choose to pay for a peaceful mind.
Be content not to control other people’s view of you, and when people praise you distrust yourself. Don’t make it your wish to give the appearance of knowing anything. If some people think you to be important personage, distrust yourself.
Do not will that your loved one lives forever, or the other people won’t do wrong, these are out of your control. Only make it your will to do what is in your power. Exercise yourself in that which is your power, whoever, therefore, wants to be free let him neither wish anything nor avoid anything that is under the control of others or else he is necessarily a slave.
Take what comes to you. Don’t fret what it does not.
It is our judgement of things that make us sad. That said, do not refuse to comfort someone who has made themselves sad.
Play the cards you’re dealt in life. Do not complain about them.
You can choose the judgement you place on events.
Just because someone has more things than you it doesn’t mean they are happy. The only consistent way to be happy is to stop focussing on externals, despise the things that are not under our control.
If you are offended or irritated it is because you have chosen to be offended or irritated. Delaying your judgement is a good method to avoid this.
It keeps things in perspective.
People will ridicule you for your principle. Be prepared for this, don’t react to it or act superior. Abiding by your principles is the only way to convince people of their values.
Don’t turn into the internals to please someone. Living following your philosophy is the best way to demonstrate the value of it.
Do not live life to fulfil the expectations of others, and do not sacrifice your principle to putatively aid your friend or country.
Be happy with others’ success. They have paid price somewhere to achieve it, do not expect the same if you have not paid that price. But it is very likely not to be your interest to pay for it. You have not been invited to a someone dinner party, of course not because you did not give the host the price at which he sells it for personal intention give him then the price for which it is sold if it is to your interest.
We feel terrible when some misfortune befalls us and nothing when it befalls others. Keep that in mind.
Evil exists to tempt people.
If a stranger was given control of your body, you would be vexed, so why voluntarily give them control of your mind, by reacting to their opinion of you?
Don’t flit about it. Consider project before starting and foresee what difficulties lie ahead; so you are ready for them and don’t end up quitting like a child.
Don’t let people’s bad behaviour toward you affect you how you treat them.
Have a faith that what happens is for the best. Focus only on what is in your control.
Ask a question when the answer will affect your decision. If you must do something, the knowledge that you might suffer should not affect your decision to do it.
Decide how you wish to behave and be consistent in acting thus; you become like those you associate with so take care who you associate with. When attending public shows avoid falling into the behaviour of the coward. Exercise restraint both in food and drink. Don’t talk about yourself much; it is not interesting to other people as it is to you.
Don’t gossip about people, and don’t get defensive if people gossip about you. Avoid taking an unnecessary oath, avoid sex before marriage, don’t be preachy or act superior.
Weigh the joy you will get from indulging against the damage was done from indulging; consider also the joy you will feel after successfully avoiding an indulgent.
Don’t fear those who rebuke you wrongly. Have confidence in your actions.
Do not try to be gluten, show respect to your host. Taking a large share at dinner is good for your body still it is bad for the proper kind of social feeling. Where therefore you are eating with another person remember to regard not merely the value for your body of what lay before you but also to maintain your respect for your host.
Don’t take roles above your ability. If you undertake a role which is beyond your power you both disgrace yourself in that one at the same time neglect the role which you might have filled with success.
Take care of your morality as you do with your body.
Don’t take more than your body needs.
Accept how society views you. Don’t lie about it. You are only honoured for modesty and self-respect and nothing else.
Focus on your mind rather than on physical pleasure.
Other people do not see things as you do, they act based upon what they think is right. Remember this and you will be gentle towards them. If a person believes composite judgement to be true, the composite judgement doesn’t suffer but a person will suffer.
You choose how to grab hold of things, if your brother mistreats you, you can act as though he is your enemy, but it is better to treat him as your brother.
You are more than your possession. I am richer than you, therefore, my property is superior to yours or I am more eloquent than you are, therefore my elocution superior to yours, but you are neither property nor elocution.
Don’t judge actions, before you know their reasons.
Live by action, not talk. Do not be provoked by layman discussing a topic you know a lot about, exercise restraint and humility.
Don’t show off or seek admiration.
The wise man looks for help from within rather than from without.
Don’t adopt airs, just because you can interpret great works doesn’t mean you are living up to them.
Keep your principle like laws care more about them than what other people say of you.
You have the necessary information to fix yourself, but you keep putting it off. Are you waiting for someone else to do it for you? Decide to make progress and view and overcome challenges like an athlete at the Olympic Games.
How you actually behave is more valuable than theoretical arguments.
Resign yourself to things outside your control.
Envy,
There is a difference between jealousy and envy:
Jealousy comes from fear of losing something or
someone to another person.
Envy is the desire for something that belongs to
someone else like a car, a house and social status.
In general sense, I would like to go along with the
consensus that envy is not a good thing. If we narrow envy, we see that it's a
form of desire, specifically focussed on things that belong to other people.
Desire means that we want to reach out for
something that we consider desirable thus: as something we want for ourselves.
When things we are envious of sometimes external,
like someone else's money, partner, job and etc., we desire pleasure rather
than happiness. The focus of our envy is directed towards preferred
indifferences, which are nice to have, but not necessary for happiness.
Moreover, external things are not in our control;
they could be taken away in a heartbeat, which makes them unreliable and weak.
When we are envious about something internal, like
the virtuous action of someone else and their inner peace and happiness, it
might be a sign that we have work to do on ourselves. Needless to say: the
Stoic would encourage the desire of being virtuous.
Paradoxically, when we pursue virtue, strength and
our faculties, we are likely to get rid of our envy altogether.
You may be unconquerable if you enter into no
combat in which it is not in your control to conquer. When, therefore, you see
anyone eminent in honour, or power or high esteem on any account need not be
hurried away with the appearance, and to pronounce him happy; if the essence of
good consists in things in our control, then there will be no room for envy or
emulation.
The theme of envious rivalry
exists between siblings, which is common in the world. According to the Stoic,
virtue leads to Eudemonia that can be translated as human flourishing or simply
happiness. Thus, we could say that Cain was envious of Abel's virtue and
consequence of that virtue; this does not make envy a bad thing.
The problem is, however, that many envious people
seek to destroy what they are envious of, instead of using envy to lift
themselves.
Instead of killing his brother, Cain could have
used the spark of envy to realise that Abel was doing a better job than him and
saw his brother as an inspiration for becoming more virtuous.
The second scenario is that God denied Cain's offering
for no reason, which resembles that universe, is a quite random and unfair
place. Some people were born in rich families, others in poverty; some people
are gifted with greater intelligence others are mentally disabled. This
unfairness angered Cain so much that he decided to act out.
If Seneca was around at that time, he could have
told Cain that the unfairness of life does not influence the ability to be
happy.
Come now, contrast a good man who is rolling in
wealth with a man who has nothing, except that himself he has all things; they will
be equally good, though their experiences are an unequal fortune. The same
stand, as I have remarked, is to be applied to things as well as to men. The
virtue is praiseworthy if it dwells in a sound and free body.
Is envy bad thing?
It depends on what we are envious of and how we
handle it. For the most part, being envious because of external is pointless:
it is good to have envy, but it won't obstruct the ability to be happy. On the
other hand, we could use it as a tool to better ourselves, and
It is possible to use it to achieve wealth,
knowledge and virtue.
The dark side of envy is that it can also be an
incentive for destroying things or person we are envious. In this case,
clinging to it is very dangerous.
The best way to treat envy is by awareness.
Why am I envious?
Is my envy justified?
Does the thing I desire lead to happiness?
Can I use my envy to better myself and consequently
get rid of it?
If we focus on our path and be grateful for what we
have, there is no reason to be envious of anything.
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