Random Thoughts

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. -Seneca

            Stoicism is a way of life that centres around three disciplines: desire, action, and assent. These three disciplines help you focus on what's most important in your life—your values and beliefs. When you master these three disciplines, you'll be able to make better decisions about what matters most to you and how best to live up to those values. Stoicism is not the same thing as being tense, anxious or nervous. It does involve being focused on what you can control and focus on what is in front of you, but it’s more than that. Stoicism teaches us how to deal with our own emotions by learning how to understand them and then using this understanding through self-education. It also teaches us how to make better decisions based on truth rather than emotionality so we don’t get caught up in the unnecessary drama in our lives (or worse).

Desire, action, and assent

            The three disciplines of stoicism are desire, action and assent. The first discipline is accepting desire for what it is; the second is examining your actions and making sure they align with your values and beliefs; while the third is that we may not be deceived, judgment at random or generally, it's concerned with assent.

The first discipline is accepting desire for what it is.

            The first discipline is accepting your desires, even if they are not within your control. This can be a difficult step to take because it feels like you’re being weak or giving in to your emotions. But if you can accept that it is impossible for some things in life to happen, then there is no need for anger or resentment when they don’t happen as expected. The key here is that Stoicism is more than just following rules and regulations; it requires an attitude of living with purpose and meaning in life. If something doesn't go according to plan, then instead of getting mired down by disappointment or defeatism (which leads us into another set), try looking at the situation from a different perspective—where everything happens for a reason!

            What about our desires? Are they within our control or not? What if you want to be rich, but that's not within your power to do? Do you have to accept being poor as a part of life and move on with your day? The answer is no because there are things outside of our control: the weather, other people's actions and even random events like winning a lottery ticket. It's these things that cause us anxiety; if we didn't have them occurring in their own right (weather changes), then we wouldn't care so much about how well-off we were compared to others.

            Accepting that some desires are outside our control will help us focus on those in our control. For example, if you have a desire to travel and your employer offers you an opportunity to work remotely, this desire is out of your control. It's up to them whether they let you go or not — they cannot make themselves more likely to give permission for travel by offering it (unless they're extremely generous). However, if the company decides it wants someone who can work remotely and calls for applications from people who don't live near headquarters but do live near other offices where people are travelling on business trips every day (like yours), then technically speaking this is within your power as well as theirs.

            Similarly, when we want something like a new job or career change but find ourselves stuck with no idea how exactly how to get there because we lack the experience or skillset required for those roles; when these things seem unreachable due to all obstacles placed in front of us during life; at these moments accepting what could happen next becomes crucial because sometimes even though we might want something very badly still comes down just not being able to get what we need right now."

The second discipline is to examine your actions, values and beliefs.

             The second discipline is to examine your actions and make sure they align with your values and beliefs. This is a critical step because it helps you get in touch with the underlying principles that guide you, which can be difficult to do when circumstances are chaotic or stressful. How we act matters more than our circumstances. If someone tells me they're going through a rough patch, I might sympathize but still have no idea what they could possibly do about it beyond suggesting that maybe they should try doing something different (e.g., drinking less). But if we were all sitting around having coffee together at some point in time, then perhaps our friend would tell us about how he lost his job after 20 years of hard work—and then we'd realize that there may not be much of anything else left besides finding another job or working longer hours just so he could pay those bills off faster! It's easy enough for us as individuals; just think back on some recent events from your own life where things didn't go according to plan—maybe one day wasn't quite perfect like everyone else expected. Maybe something didn't go right with friends/family members over Christmas break? Or maybe someone broke into our house while we weren't home yesterday evening… Whatever happened during those times when things weren't quite perfect doesn’t mean there wasn’t still plenty left behind afterwards too!

            When you take action, consider whether your actions align with your core values and beliefs. Just as important as what you do is how you do it. For example, if a person has a strong value of honesty but they consistently lie to their friends when asked about their whereabouts on the weekend, they are unlikely to be viewed as honest in any context other than those where lying seems justified (such as a job interview). This can have serious implications for other areas of life where honesty is valued: relationships with family members, friends and colleagues will suffer if this individual doesn't feel comfortable sharing information about themselves honestly because doing so would undermine their credibility in others' eyes.

The third discipline is to examine your assent.

        The third discipline is to examine your assent—whether you agree with your thoughts and perceptions. We’re often unaware of how much we agree with our own thoughts and perceptions because it can be so easy to dismiss them as “not true.” Sometimes we even do this on purpose: If we think something isn’t true, then there must be something wrong with us! This way of thinking leads us down an unhealthy path that can lead us toward depression or anger (or both). On the other hand, if I see that my thoughts are based on reality rather than illusion then I have more room for growth in my life.

            You can master this by simply not agreeing with every thought or feeling that pops into your mind. In this case, the thought that popped into my mind was: “I’m a failure.” This was one of many thoughts I had throughout my journey with Stoicism. Some of them were positive and helpful to me, like “I can do this!” Others were negative or anxiety-inducing, like “I should have done more with my life when I had the chance.” But regardless of whether these thoughts were helpful or not, they all came from somewhere within us—a part of us that we may not always agree with or even notice but which is nonetheless there.

How thoughts affect you is up to you—you have a choice in the matter because you have a choice in how you react to them.

            You have a choice in the matter. You can choose how you react to your thoughts, and this will affect how you feel about yourself. If we want to be happy, then we need to change our thoughts about ourselves and society as a whole. You can choose not to pay attention when things don't go according to plan—this way of thinking allows us to gain control over our lives and make them better than they would've been if we had given up on trying or worrying about what might happen next. We all have bad days where nothing goes right for us; there's no shame in admitting that! But it is important not to let these moments define who we are as people (or at least try really hard not to). Instead of dwelling on past failures or disappointments, focus instead on what went right today: maybe something positive happened? Maybe someone complimented your outfit? Whatever happened was great! Now focus on improving tomorrow so that it could be even better than today.

            In the end, it’s all about choice. You can choose to let your thoughts control you or you can choose to take action and master the three disciplines of stoicism. In either case, it will make a difference in how you feel as you go through life. Remember: Your thoughts are not facts, so don't worry too much about them!