We talk a lot about stoicism on our channel. That's why today, I want to propose a different video, with six Stoic exercises, which you can start practicing immediately, after finishing this video. These practices are simple steps that you can incorporate into your daily life right now, and that have the potential to transform your life.
When we focus our attention on what we can control, our actions become well-directed and efficient. Stoicism teaches us to develop a clear vision, which allows us to make the best choices possible. Stoic philosophy trains us for life, and as you learn to trust your ability to face challenges, inaction and indecision cease to be obstacles.
And if you're new to the channel, help us bring this direction to more people who need it, it's very simple: Like this video, subscribe to the channel and comment your opinion about the exercises or how stoicism has changed your routine. Now, let's go with the first exercise. FIRST.
Reinterpret small disappointments. This exercise consists of seeing our small daily problems as mosquito bites. A single sting may be just a mild annoyance, but imagine being the target of dozens of them; the accumulated effect could be quite harmful to our health.
The same happens in our routine, sometimes we don't face major problems and catastrophes, but we have a series of small problems every day, which together, can create a great emotional burden, leading us to feelings of anguish and dissatisfaction. Stoic philosophers encourage us to rethink these small daily irritations, preventing them from accumulating and making us lose our zest for life. The idea is to adopt a new perspective on everyday challenges, recognizing that, although valid, these feelings can be reevaluated so that they do not become an excessive burden.
This point of view helps us understand that, often, the obstacles faced are much smaller compared to the great challenges already faced by humanity. For a long time, people lived without the comforts and facilities we have today. For example, the subway being five minutes late, or the app driver canceling our ride, when we are at the last minute for a job interview or important appointment is very bad and frustrating.
But, if we look back recently, simple trips like this were carried out for hours or even days, requiring much more time and effort. Likewise, a delay in responding to a message can irritate us or cause anxiety, but there were times when communications took days or even weeks to be received and people adapted their expectations accordingly, without dying over it. This means that many things that irritate us now are actually modern-day luxuries.
Therefore, the exercise here is not to deny our reactions or emotions when faced with setbacks, but rather to learn to see them in a different light. It's an invitation to manage small frustrations so that they don't overwhelm us. As Seneca said: “Sometimes even living is an act of courage.
” He wanted us to understand that the difficult things we go through are part of a life full of experiences and learning. Accepting frustrations as normal parts of our daily lives helps us see life in a more complete way, realizing that both good and bad moments contribute to our growth. Seneca teaches us to look at life as if it were a big picture, where each difficult moment is a color that helps paint a richer and more interesting story.
He tells us that we should not just focus on the difficulties, but understand that they are part of a greater path, full of lessons and achievements. This way, we not only go through challenges, but we grow from them, making our lives richer and full of meaning. SECOND.
CHOOSE A VIRTUE. Courage. Temperance.
Justice. Wisdom. They are the most essential values in Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius, the great Emperor of Rome and Stoic philosopher, said that if anyone discovered something more valuable than these four virtues, It should be something truly extraordinary. The Stoics believed that every challenge we face is a chance to practice these virtues. Our second exercise is based on including these Stoic values in everyday life, focusing on practicing one virtue per week.
Start by choosing a virtue and practice it intensely for a week. For example, in Courage week: Start with simple actions that represent courage, such as getting out of bed early to exercise or taking the time to treat yourself to a special breakfast. It doesn't have to be a banquet, completely out of your reality.
But sometimes, the act of treating ourselves well, offering the best of ourselves, whether it's coffee, exercise or self-care, is the most courageous act of our lives. Another deeper point that requires courage is resolving conflicts, think of a situation with a friend, a family member or a co-worker. Let's say you two had a disagreement because of a misunderstanding in a conversation, which left an awkward atmosphere between you.
Instead of letting the hurt build up or avoiding the topic, you decide to call this person in for a peaceful conversation, explaining how you felt about the situation, without pointing fingers or blaming anyone. You also ask to hear her side, showing that you are open to understanding and fixing what went wrong. This step can not only help resolve the misunderstanding, but also strengthen your relationship, making your friendship, work environment or family bond even stronger.
Each action in your daily life can reinforce your practice of courage and, thus, you improve yourself and move on to the next week, choosing another virtue. Like during justice week, for example, returning extra change received at the market will demonstrate your honesty in the small things. As well as recognizing and giving credit to colleagues for their contributions to joint projects at work.
In wisdom, you can take time to read or learn something new that can enrich your life or career, starting to practice your continuous learning. During temperance week, for example, you can start practicing conscious consumption, which is thinking carefully before buying anything, choosing to buy only what you really need or what you have already planned to purchase, instead of making several purchases per day. impulse, which can compromise you financially.
For example, if you are at the mall and you see a pair of sneakers that you really like, instead of buying it right away, you take a moment to think about whether you really need another pair of sneakers or, more importantly, whether this purchase fits into your budget. your budget for the month. This pause to think helps you avoid impulse purchases, which can mess up your finances and lead to having a lot of unnecessary things at home.
Practicing conscious consumption helps you save money and live in a simpler and more sustainable way. You can also work on temperance to better manage your time, starting to establish clear limits between work and rest, thus ensuring quality time for yourself to rest. Each week, you progressively work on your personal development, focusing on one of the four virtues and applying these core values.
The four Stoic virtues are like rules for living well: courage, temperance, justice and wisdom. For Stoics, courage goes far beyond physical bravery, it means having the strength to face problems. Temperance means knowing how to control yourself, not exaggerating in anything, whether in food, at work, in your financial life or in fun.
Justice is treating everyone fairly and correctly, being honest and kind to others. Finally, wisdom is prudence and intelligence applied in everyday life, helping us to make sensible decisions. Together, these virtues guide us in facing life's challenges in a virtuous and balanced way, promoting personal growth and the common good.
Share in the comments which of the four Stoic virtues you choose to focus on this week and why. Your courage may inspire someone else to start too. THIRD.
Daily Review. Seneca advises us to find a quiet place and take a few minutes to write about our day, what we did wrong, what we did right and what we could have done differently. This technique, widely recognized and recommended by personal development and psychology professionals , is based on a simple but powerful principle.
It originated from the innovative ideas of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus in the fifteenth century, who proposed a practice such as "Daily Examination”. This practice is not just a method, but an invitation to a daily journey of self-knowledge and growth. By reflecting on our actions and emotions of the day, we have the unique opportunity to connect more deeply with ourselves.
These three points serve as a daily examination, where we can understand ourselves better, know which triggers cause us anger, fear, anxiety and realize where we are evolving in the development of our virtues and character. Therefore, let's examine these three points in detail: What we did wrong. Until you admit that a problem exists, it is impossible to seek a solution for it.
Therefore, the first The step in this exercise is admitting our mistakes. Sometimes we deny our mistakes, because we fall into the mistake of defining ourselves by our characteristics, without truly realizing that our value is not in our profession, in the car we have or in external things. Our value comes from our character, from who we really are.
Acting wrong does not mean that we are wrong people, but rather that we just moved away from virtue for a moment, but that we can return to it. And when we admit wrongdoing, we gain power over it. Well, we can change it.
Enforcing us to act correctly the next time this situation happens. What we did right. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
No one is one hundred percent wrong or one hundred percent right. The Stoics believed that ignorance was the greatest cause of errors, because many people do not have knowledge and act wrongly. Today we have an abundance of knowledge, however it is not enough to know to act correctly, we have to develop the moral strength to put what we know into practice.
Writing down what you did right reaffirms positive behavior, and as you learn to trust your abilities, you feel more confident in replicating these positive patterns. It's simple, but it has a big impact on your mental health. Develop confidence in yourself, relying on virtue and kindness to act positively daily.
What we could have done differently. Imagine that someone asks you for information and you respond with four stones in your hand. In a simple situation, you exercised rudeness gratuitously.
Adopting this technique is taking a step towards a fuller and more conscious life, where each day is seen as a chance to learn, improve and transform. Epictetus reminds us that we are not just responding in isolation, but that each of our actions feeds a habit of ours. Thinking about what we can do differently is thinking about our simple everyday actions, which without realizing it, we feed the habits and addictions in our lives.
For example, today I spent almost an hour reading random comments on the internet, could I have used this relaxation time in a less useless way? Could you have done it differently? If we don't dedicate ourselves to self-evaluation, we miss the opportunity to grow and realize how much we have already evolved in our journeys.
This exercise is simple and you can use your cell phone notepad to do it. Start once a week by answering these three questions to yourself about how your week went, what you did wrong, what you did right, and what you could have done differently. ROOM.
Recognize your internal tools. Epictetus, a wise Stoic, teaches us that in the face of life's obstacles, we can find ways to grow and strengthen our character. If someone offends us, we can find in this insult a chance to develop patience.
In the face of suffering, we have the opportunity to discover our resistance. And when facing temptations, we can exercise self-control and self-discipline. This exercise offers us a valuable practice: before facing any challenge, we must remember what our internal resources are.
And if we realize that we lack a specific skill to deal with the situation, this is the ideal time to develop and improve it. As we persist and practice, we gradually master the essential virtues to overcome any adversity, converting each obstacle into a valuable lesson for our personal development. When we face challenges or problems, we tend to only look at the problem and this can make us temporarily forget about the skills we are building or similar situations that we have already overcome.
In the words of Marcus Aurelius: "Search within yourself. There lies the source of good, and it can flow unceasingly if you always tap it. " This inspiring quote from Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome's most remembered emperors and a philosopher dedicated to Stoicism, invites us to seek the good within ourselves.
He teaches us that the true source of good is not found in the outside world, but within each one of us. He motivates us to continually delve within ourselves, revealing that, with constant dedication to this exploration, we can find an inexhaustible flow of goodness. This suggests that the secret to a full and virtuous life lies in our ability to look within, in an uninterrupted process of discovery and personal transformation.
By cultivating and valuing our internal reservoir of kindness, we open the way to an enriched and authentic existence. The next time you face any difficulty, remember which internal tool you can exercise. When you are on a diet, train your self-control by refusing that extra serving, a soft drink or some extra sweet treat.
Train your self-discipline by trying harder, doing your best, on the day you are lazy or have zero desire to work. Or when teaching someone something or passing on information at work, train your generosity, teaching without humiliating or belittling anyone. In each situation, we have the opportunity to be better when we recognize our internal tools.
FIFTH. Exercise your power to Captain. Epictetus, one of the greatest Stoic teachers and philosophers, teaches us something valuable: if we don't carefully choose what we put into our minds, someone else will choose for us.
And, let's be honest, these choices won't always have your best interests in mind. It's as if we let someone steer our boat without knowing where it wants to go. When we know what is really important to us, it becomes easier to take control of our lives.
Our actions begin to reflect our true priorities, and we live more authentically and in line with what we believe. On the other hand, if we don't make that choice, it's like opening the door for other people to decide for us. And, without realizing it, we can end up living a life based on other people's desires and expectations, not ours.
So the lesson here is clear: to live a life that is truly ours, we need to be in control of our choices. It starts by defining what is most important to you and ensuring that every step you take is aligned with those priorities. Use the dynamics of I Want and I Can to define your priorities and steps to achieve them.
For example: I WANT, defines your priority: “I want to lose five kilos. ” I can, he defines his actions: “I can eat a smaller portion for lunch. ” “I can exercise twice a week.
The same goes for other areas of your life, for example: “I want a promotion at work. ” “I can dedicate myself more to the project”, “I can improve my professional qualifications”, “I can improve my network, if new opportunities arise”. What you “WANT” defines your priorities.
And what you “CAN” are the actions you can do. In this way, we will be the true captains of our destiny. This can be the first step toward a life lived with more purpose, passion, and joy.
We can only put our lives in order, when we begin to act, as Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations: “Stop talking about what a good person should be and be one. ” SIXTH. How to decide what really matters each day.
For our last Stoic exercise, let's talk about the simple practice: Imagine if, at the end of each day, you made a list of everything you did and asked yourself, "Would I have done this if today were the last day of my life? " This simple exercise has the power to completely transform the way you live. By asking ourselves this question, we begin to look at our daily commitments, identifying what actually has value for us.
This questioning process acts as a filter, helping to highlight what is truly relevant, encouraging the choice of activities and experiences that fulfill and fulfill us. Suddenly, those hours spent on meaningless tasks or procrastinating on social media may seem less attractive and favorable. On the other hand, moments with your friends, your family, or dedicating yourself to self-care or that hobby you always put off, take on new importance.
This is not just a thought exercise ; it is an invitation to live a more authentic and meaningful life. By choosing every day as if it were your last, you start to do more of what you love, what makes you feel alive and connected to what really matters. This exercise not only increases awareness about how we spend our time, but also promotes reflection on our life decisions and priorities.
The Stoics called this exercise Memento Mori, where each day, they gain awareness that life was not eternal and discover the ideal way to live. The idea behind Memento Mori is to encourage us to live each moment with more meaning and purpose, aware that our time here is limited. This awareness helps us prioritize what is truly important, choosing to live in ways that reflect our deepest values rather than getting lost in trivialities or procrastination.
By remembering our mortality, we are inspired to make each day an authentic expression of our essence and to cherish every moment we have. Each of these exercises are powerful Stoic practices and as we plant each of them in our hearts and souls, we have the opportunity to reap the results. If you made it this far, comment: “GRATITUDE”.
And, leave in the comments which subjects you are curious to know from the Stoic point of view so that we can bring you in the next videos. In the meantime, check out our full Stoicism playlist to your left. There are several interesting topics that we have already covered.
So it's worth checking out. Thanks for watching.
