Stoicism does not mean stoic (unemotional), but indicates a way of living life while observing your own behaviour. Regular Stoic practice is one of the best ways I have improved satisfaction with my life. Here is why:
We often spend our days, months, years, and life in loops of habits without ever taking a step back to observe our behaviour. If we do not observe ourselves, how are we to notice what we would like to change?
If there is no change, we relive the same negative or apathetic experiences over and over. We can put off change for the future, saying we’ll get to it one day, but why not start now?
Stoicism is the practice of taking a step back to see what we like and don’t like about our behaviour. By stepping back, we can begin to recognize patterns and make plans to disrupt the patterns we don’t like to live life in a more fulfilling way.
The first step is to get outside of our own heads. Our rational mind often overpowers the rest of our brain, solving problem after problem without questioning whether all problems need to be solved. I experience this as overthinking and decision paralysis.
The practice of meditation, or mindfulness, can be helpful for allowing our sub rational brain to give the rational brain a break. By taking time to be still, we can allow thoughts into our heads, and then let them back out again without taking action.
In this way, mindfulness and stoicism can be complementary. Mindfulness is the practice of being still to allow a deeper understanding of ourselves. Pairing this with stoicism can give compounding effects of self awareness and subsequent positive change.
Regularly practicing stoic meditation or mindfulness can improve our ability to stay present. Solving problems for our future selves takes us out of the moment, removing us from a state of being.
The more we practice, the longer we can go without engaging our rational brain, instead taking the time to just be aware of ourselves and our surroundings. This time away from problem solving can drastically recharge our mental battery, aka mindfulness.
1% better every day for a year is 37 times better than last year. I have found this statement to be incredibly true with mindfulness, and is improved even more by bringing in stoic meditation.
I start my day with a morning mindfulness meditation because it allows an opportunity to just be, before being introduced to external stimulation; other people’s problems. Making this practice a habit has had the large positive impacts on my life and mental health.
By focusing on recharging my mental battery first thing in the morning, it is like a fast charge for the day, giving me a larger capacity to solve problems. I am then less drained by the end of the work day and able to engage meaningfully with things I value.
This engagement with life improves my satisfaction with life because I am doing things for myself to improve my quality of life. When practiced regularly, it forms a positive reward cycle and leaves me feeling satisfied.
Stepping back to reflect on my own behaviour is perhaps one of the single greatest skills I have developed. That said, Stoicism involves more than just stepping back. It provides a series of ancient practices that people can use to find perspective in their lives.
I hope you can join me as I work through this series: The Stoic Path, and learn different ways to reflect and improve your satisfaction with life. Self-observation can lead to drastic improvement in life satisfaction even with 1 week of practice, so why not start now?
If you found this helpful or interesting, I would love to hear your thoughts! The more we learn how this practice helps each of us, the more we can collectively improve. Please feel free to leave questions or comments below.
Continue reading about the stoic path with: Negative Visualization.
Find the full list of mindful thoughts here.
