The Stoic: 9 Principles to Help You Keep Calm in Chaos

Observing individuals who lead a creative life, we can identify elements of expertise, grit, an understanding, and passion. What’s easy to overlook is the inner system within an individual—the set of principles that govern their mind and behavior. When failure ensues or the need to adapt is necessary, how does one respond? What do they tell themselves? In other words, what’s their philosophy? Not only does philosophy teach us how to live well and become better humans, but it can also aid in overcoming life’s trials and tribulations. The principles within Stoicism are, perhaps, the most relevant and practical sets of rules for entrepreneurs, writers, and artists of all kinds. How can we lead a fulfilling, happy life? It’s important that we understand the obstacles that we face and not run from them. Our guides to Stoicism today will be its three renowned leaders: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca. Seneca was also a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, a tutor and advisor to Nero. 1. 2.

Curiosity Curious children gather around photographer Toni Frissell, looking at her camera Curiosity (from Latin curiosus "careful, diligent, curious," akin to cura "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species.[1][2] The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a thirst for knowledge, curiosity is a major driving force behind scientific research and other disciplines of human study. Causes[edit] Children peer over shoulders to see what their friends are reading. Although many living beings have an innate capability of curiosity, it should not be categorized as an instinct because it is not a fixed action pattern; rather it is an innate basic emotion because, while curiosity can be expressed in many ways, the expression of an instinct is typically more fixed and less flexible. Brain[edit] Attention[edit]

Stoicism Philosophical system Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting that the practice of virtue is both necessary and sufficient to achieve eudaimonia (happiness, lit. 'good spiritedness'): one flourishes by living an ethical life. The Stoics identified the path to eudaimonia with a life spent practicing virtue and living in accordance with nature. Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century CE, and among its adherents was Emperor Marcus Aurelius. History[edit] Scholars[who?] Philosophical system[edit] Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. Chrysippus, the third leader of the Stoic school, wrote over 300 books on logic. Logic[edit] Categories[edit] Physics[edit]

A Stoic Response to Rejection “A good person dyes events with his own color…and turns whatever happens to his own benefit.” — Seneca So your project wasn’t funded, your idea was tossed aside, the public didn’t love your book or movie, your boss just said, “We don’t need you anymore,” the beautiful stranger you hit it off with has suddenly gone silent. Rejection. It can be devastating. But wait, the Stoics would say. Is that really how we have to see this? The essence of Stoicism is that our mind often clouds objective events with all sorts of damaging opinions and interpretation. There is really no such thing as rejection–there is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means. When we are experiencing rejection and wallowing in self-pity, a Stoic would also remind us that most of what we are upset about is external, it is outside of our control. The Stoics also knew that rejection was a part of life. But does that mean that because the rejection was expected, we should resign in the face of it?