Stoicism for newbies #6

"external things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now." 
- Marcus Aurelius 

There are 2 kind of forces in this world..... 
1. External
2. Internal
The first category is external things.. ie- it's raining outside when you wanted to play football... Or your flight is cancelled.
The one thing about external things are that they are out of our control. But one mistake we all do is ignore this simple thing about them... That we can't control them. 

The second category is internal things... ie our reaction to the flight delay or raining outside. The basic thing about internal things is that it is in our control. And we don't use it correctly. 

Let's take the example of your flight getting cancelled. A normal man will get angry and start complaining to himself and people around him. He gets irritated and agitated. Does it make a difference?? The answer is NO. 
Think about it. How much you complain or get angry nothing will change. So by being angry over the flight getting cancelled the only thing you are doing is ruining your own mood and wasting your time. One simple thing you can do is to stop complaing and stop being angry and just let it settle. Just accept it. Don't let external things that are out of your control ruin your life... 

This is stoicism. Everyday many people ask me what is stoicism and I just have a simple sentence - understanding what is not in our control and accepting them and only giving time and effort to things that are in our control. 

And the great part about stoicism is I believe anyone can practice it. Anyone can be a stoic. One of the greatest stoics ever was a slave turned teacher, Epictitus. A king, Marcus Aurelius to a slave, Epictitus.... Anyone can be a stoic. 

You can be a stoic.

"Two men looked through prison bars. 
One saw mud. The other, stars "

I came across this powerful quote shockingly in a Dog man book and it blew my mind. The more we think about this quote the better it gets and it also resonates with stoicism. You choose what outcome you want to get out of a situation. You choose how you feel about a certain thing. Nothing but you can make or break your own life. 

Books I read after the last blog till now -
1. I finished Harry Potter's first book 
2. I finished bachelor of arts by RK narayan
3. I read a book by one of our ex teachers - The endless wait by Wilfrid Singh 
4. I started reading Everest 1922 by Mick Confrey
5. I am also reading Tuesdays with Morrie.

I also watched Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 finnally on Disney+ and it's very great. My favorite Marvel flim after endgame surely. 

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