Recognise what you can control
One of the most important elements of stoic philosophy is recognising what we can control and what we cannot. No matter how much we try, we cannot control other people’s actions, pandemics, political events in other countries, natural disasters, and many other things. However, there is a huge amount we can control–from our beliefs, attitudes and behaviour to how we spend our time and energy. Letting go of what we cannot change and investing effort in what we can is a key strategy for our emotional wellbeing.
Accept reality
You may have heard the phrase “amor fati"--translated as “a love of fate”. This stoic mindset is about accepting and embracing life’s events, good or bad, as they are, not as we wish they were. This concept feeds into the skill called Radical Acceptance, which is part of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). Radical Acceptance is helpful in many everyday difficulties, because it allows us to not get “stuck” in the vision of what “should be”, enabling us to calmly move forward, embracing new opportunities.
Focus on your values
Stoicism philosophy contains a core idea that standing up for your virtues is enough for a happy and fulfilling life, regardless of external circumstances. The importance of values is recognised in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a third wave CBT therapy. The creator of ACT, Ross Hurris, suggests that identifying our core values and aligning our behaviour with them supports our mood, self-esteem as well as simplifying the decision-making process. Core values for you could be something like kindness, generosity, care for yourself and others, and authenticity. The full list of ACT values can be found here www.actmindfully.com.au
Embrace moderation
One of the main virtues of stoicism is called temperance–this is about doing nothing to extremes and finding a balance. For example, it could be about finding a balance between overdoing and indolence, overeating and strict dieting, catastrophizing and impassivity, overwhelm and boredom. Temperance is the idea that we should be looking towards finding a middle ground in life, and that too much of a good thing can also be bad for us.
Best wishes
Ana Hood, Fernwood Clinic Team
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