Three Pieces of Advice from a Stoic

Some advice from a recent episode of the podcast Hidden Brain “Minimizing Pain, Maximizing Joy” [transcript]:

To respond well to life’s curveballs and set-backs, become more Stoic by following three pieces of advice:

1. Understand what you can and can’t control (values vs. the weather or other’s actions)
2. Recognize things could have been much worse
   • (use negative visualization - occasionally imagine that it is your last day with the thing or person in front of you)
3. Implement self-denial: go out of your way to do things that are emotionally uncomfortable

Additionally:

• Practice meditation
• Actually practice the techniques to be successful

5 second rule to nip anger at the bud: just don’t respond to any external stimuli or new information for five seconds, and then don’t respond