[Music] Marcus Aurelius is one of the most famous and well-known historical philosophers of all time. He ruled as Roman Emperor from 16180 AD and was the last leader of a lineage later known as the Five Good Emperors despite having occupied one of the The world 's most powerful positions at the time he chose to dedicate his life to justice and impartiality during his reign Aurelios found the time to write a series of personal writings now known as the Meditations which became one of the most significant texts in historical philosophy in the Aurelios Meditations shares guidance
on self development with a focus on adopting a cosmic perspective and critically examining one's own judgment as the leader of a powerful empire that faced several wars during his reign aurelios used his own historical philosophy to deal with stress and worries being the Best and Most Trustworthy Leader That Could Be Stoicism is an ancient and incredibly famous philosophy that is not only a theory but also a truly inspiring way of thinking and living . to do the right thing sound judgment and clear rational thinking were needed so with that in mind In this video we're
going to talk about how you can develop a rational mind through five key lessons that can help you think more clearly from from the teachings of marcus aurelios train your perception one of the greatest lessons of stoicism is to take control of your perception we are used to judging everything we encounter any event we experience people we know things we see all of them are given a value judgment something is considered good bad boring fun pretty ugly etc this is unbeknownst to us a very exhausting practice and one that can affect our lives for the
worse for example judging every interaction you have on an especially difficult day as terrible gives the day an even more negative outlook if you labels a party you went to as boring that's how it will be remembered the boring part of your week we often let our initial judgments of things be swayed by our emotions which means they are probably not fully rational in addition to our tendency to judge every moment of our lives goes hand in hand with the tendency to speak in metaphors and exaggerations that make things seem worse if you are dumped
by your partner it might say your ex broke your heart instead of the fundamental fact that they don't feel anymore for you in the same way this way of talking Or rather this way of thinking shapes how you feel it is not the actual event that makes you feel bad but rather the unconscious way you choose to think about it the stoics instead encourage people to be careful in judging everything they encounter and the things they do and one of the ways to be careful is to undo your judgments which basically means looking beyond them
being able to forget your first instinct and judging something through a more optimistic and reasonable lens than you you might try to reframe that boring party in your mind as an event where you met a new place and some new people afterwards you might notice that you didn't really identify with anyone but didn't go with the expectation of negativity so practice not judging everything based on your first instinct and emotion is the best way to start training Your perception of life whenever you think about something in an opinionated way Try to ask yourself this rational
on what I based my opinion is there a better or more positive way to interpret this Marcos aurélios emphasized that damage can only be if you consider it damage This means that whatever difficult experience you go through will seem harder And worse the harder And worse you consider it so you have complete control over how much certain situations affect you the stoics also encourage you to see every bad thing that happens as an opportunity or source of good as an exercise to train your perspective historically there is a challenge called turning the obstacle upside down
when a new coworker is an apprentice affect the company's profits you may feel frustration this coworker is an obstacle to what you are trying to achieve effectiveness efficiency and profit however this situation can also be an opportunity for good it is an opportunity for you to exercise and practice patience become a better teacher learn how to integrate new people into the company and deal with stressful moments all these are skills that will also come in handy later on and should help you increase profits in the long run about this too subject Marcus Aurelius famously said
the impediment to action advances the action what is in the way becomes the way so overall instead of judging everything you encounter in an exaggerated way take the time to look at things as they are objectively and you can discover that life is simpler and clearer than you thought every situation has a more positive and a more negative interpretation when you adjust your mindset accordingly you will find that nothing bothers you as much as it used to and you will go through life much more easily learn to control your emotions Marcus Aurelius advises us not
to let your emotions overrule what your mind tells you stop being a hypocrite self centered irritable acting on emotion is often portrayed as a stark contrast to rational action and this is not without reason There is no nothing clouds our judgment more than our own emotions can so if you want to think clearly at all times one of the most important skills to master is the ability to control your emotions according to Marcus Aurelius the emotion of anger in particular makes us more more harm than good contrary to what many people seem to think or
trying to control your emotions does not mean suppressing them when you feel Intense anger as a result of a betrayal you cannot control this anger by denying its existence to yourself or others or pretending you are its ok it will still be there no matter how much you hide it instead controlling emotions like anger is according to stoics done by redirecting emotions so when you are experiencing anger ask yourself what can you do with that anger yell at the one who hurt you It may sound tempting but it will help you lessen your hurt or
improve your situation it will help the person who betrayed you get better in summary Think about what you are tempted to do and then ask yourself if it is helpful if not find it ways to express your emotions in a useful way maybe you can get better results talking calmly with the one who hurt you explaining your feelings trying to understand their point of view you can also write in a journal do physical exercises if they miss a video game or anything else that can help you release your anger later for another example take anxiety
or fear you can't just suppress it but you can redirect it instead of letting anxiety paralyze you can use it to challenge yourself to take action that make you feel and acknowledge their existence throughout the process Say you are too scared to ask your boss for a raise many people see this fear as a reason not to do something and allow it to stop them from taking action due to their anxieties others may be able to move on from this and view their anxiety as something that is getting in the way and needs to be
suppressed and ignored But neither case needs to be true instead their fear is something that can be expressed in a healthy way and even let go being useful for example that fear makes you think about all the things that could go wrong which might lead you to consider all the possible questions your boss might ask all the counterarguments you might hear that way you can prepare for them and form a plan for every possible scenario but most importantly the fear provides positive motivation to move forward challenge yourself and grow as a person prove to yourself
that you can take the step not in spite of the fear but partly because of it and in that scenario you might be aware of the anxiety all the time and think how awesome it is that I'm trying this even when you succeed redirect strong emotions with ease you will be a calm person no matter what and your emotions will never impair your ability to think rationally and make smart decisions controlling your emotions is the key to a calmer mind before we proceed we invite you to subscribe to our channel for more inspirational and educational
content if you're enjoying what you've seen so far be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below we look forward to hearing your thoughts on these lessons Also if you'd like to support the channel and contribute to the continued creation of videos like this one check the options available in the description each form of support, no matter how small, is extremely valuable and helps us spread wisdom and precious knowledge around the world exercise the dialectic of control in the words of Marcos aurélios you have power over your mind not over events outsiders realize this
and you will find the strength the dialectic of control is the distinction between what we can control and what we cannot for example the weather traffic problems or what people think of you is out of your control But how do you dress what time you go out and the kind of people you surround yourself with that you can control so whenever you are faced with a situation that makes you feel a certain way ask yourself what can i control everything you can control is a reason to to act on what you cannot control you must
learn to accept and embrace it without letting it affect you learning to distinguish these two things and acting on it can clear your mind instantly a very important part of the dialectic of control is love Fati or translated love by fate when you Embrace life and all the circumstances it brings you you will always love life you can't escape fate or decide things that are out of your control But you can choose to love your life no matter what if you realize that been rejected for a job you wanted for years you might think there
is no Redemption in a situation like this you wanted the job you tried and failed you couldn't Possibly pretend to love fate in a circumstance like this however that's a misunderstanding instead of seeing the fact that you didn't achieve your ambition as something purely negative negative and use it to take positive action or the reason you didn't get the job was a failure on your part in which case this is something you can control yourself can work on those weaknesses and try again When a similar opportunity arises in the future or the reason was an
external factor like nepotism or a personality conflict with a member of the hiring team it was never in your control Meaning the opportunity never existed really and there's no point in getting upset about something that never existed a part of accepting fate that moving away from a fixed outcome and external markers of success if you want to be a writer for example and measure your success by the amount of sales your book do so you will allow success to be controlled by the arbitrary book market of the time but if you choose to measure your
success by the satisfaction you feel with your final product or the amount of work you put into it then you are in control of your success so of all ways make sure you do everything in your power to try to reach your goals but never forget that you may not reach them and accept this possibility in advance if we only deal with what is in our control and commit ourselves to accept whatever is not exactly as it is then we will find ourselves calm Whatever happens keep the virtues in mind to quote Marcus Aurelius Dig
deep within yourself for there is a wellspring of goodness always Ready To flow if you keep digging a virtue is an excellence of character or simply morally good behavior morally good behavior benefits not just you and those around you but the greater good the histories believed in an interdependent universe that everything and everyone is somehow connected so according to stoicism what is best for the greater good is eventually best for you is also why the Stoics were convinced that the most Rational people were the people who committed themselves to the greater good or in other
words acted not acting virtuously is the result of ignorance according to the historical ones when life puts you in an unexpected direction the virtues can guide you on what to do and keep you steady that's why the most virtuous people are the most calm and relaxed to be virtuous you have to keep the four most important virtues of stoicism in mind wisdom justice has hope and courage wisdom in stoic eyes is the ability to judge good bad intermediate or neutral rather than being controlled by emotion one needs to think clearly and logically about what would
be the morally right thing to do when you have two options in a difficult situation wisdom is the ability to think of both then justice justice is willed through wisdom and means doing what is right and fair both for others and for ourselves historically consider it to be our duty to ourselves our fellow men and society as a whole the third virtue courage is the ability to act in the face of your own fear doing what is necessary or useful even when you do not know whether you will succeed courage is not the elimination of
Fear of desire or anxiety instead is deciding to act and take Steps despite fear passion and anxiety lastly temperance the other name for temperance is moderation which means staying in the middle ground between two extremes ensuring you never take too much or too little less in practice temperance often looks like high control high discipline or discipline according to aurelios one quality that set humans apart from animals was the ability to restrain oneself if necessary temperance is important to ensure our long-term well-being in to the detriment of short term satisfaction eg Consider a bag of crisps
finishing the whole bag at once may be nice in the moment but it is bad for your health and even potentially your mood in some cases so you should practice self-control and stopping after the first few bites temperance is also aided by wisdom only by thinking wisely can you decide how much of something you need to acquire before holding back the histories divided all possible things and actions in the world into evil and indifferent goods it was always important to seek the good to avoid evil and choose the indifferent as you wish you create evil
when you act against one of these virtues For example when you steal from someone you disrespect someone Act recklessly or cowardly or make someone sick you participate in good when you act in accordance with these virtues and you do not do none of these things when taking indifferent actions like taking a walk for example these simple rules to live by not only make you a better person but also make you a more relaxed person when you act in accordance with the virtues you are always guided by good and always act rationally according to the stoics
this behavior creates a calm mind always consider the big picture In our last quote from Marcus Aurelius for this video he says how Plato put it beautifully Whenever you want to talk about people it's better to have a bird's eye view and see everything taking time to consider the big picture is a tremendously important part of emptying the mind when living life we are always in the middle of everything every problem It can feel like the end of the world for example when you are in the middle of a small crowd It can feel like
the whole city is crowded but taking just a few steps to the side will prove otherwise so in general when we step back and look at the totality of the world and our lives we see how small all that we experience really is and how small we really are and then we see how much of the world is beyond our subjective experience many people forget that their experiences and opinions are not the only thing that should matter even to themselves someone who had a bad experience with dogs as a child can be convinced that all
dogs are mean when they go out into the street they can feel threatened for every dog that walks past them even if the dog is small and fluffy and has never hurt them yet the world doesn't care about an individual's personal experiences so when someone meets that person's dog the dog is just acting like a dog normally does them has nothing to do with what happened in the person's childhood so remember that the way you see the world is just one way of seeing the world other people have equally valid ways of seeing the world
in rather than trying to impose your perspective on others be willing to listen to their perspective and consider the big picture What you think is important is not necessarily important for everyone and what is true for you is not necessarily true for everyone so always have a big picture and consider the world beyond yourself when you follow these lessons and practice historical philosophy in your everyday life you will see a significant improvement in the way you think and make decisions you will learn to train your perception to control your emotions understand the dialectic of control
maintain keep the virtues in mind and always consider the big picture this will not only help you to have a calmer mind but also help you to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life As Marcus Aurelius said you have power over your mind not external events realize this and you will find strength and with that strength you can meet any challenge life throws at you so remember these lessons and start applying them in your life today Thank you for taking the time to explore these valuable lessons from the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius with us We
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