"It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment ABOUT things" - Epictetus | Stoicism

Since I got introduced to stoicism, I got interested in what this ancient philosophy has to offer and how I can apply their wisdom into my life, which we can call "the modern life". To avoid any confusion, this does not mean I am becoming a Stoic. I am just a student of life, and if I see value in something, chances are that I will apply this into my own life and share the knowledge obtained. 

Life can be divided into two categories

In my previous video, where I talked about being introduced to this philosophy, I talked about a key principal of stoicism, which is that we should not worry about things beyond our control, because everything in life can be divided into two categories – things that are up to us, and things that are not, and I want to talk further about this. 

"It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment ABOUT things"

I want to start by sharing a quote I saw on the internet from Epictetus, a Greek philosopher, which says, "It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment ABOUT things". The fact that he said this, gives me the impression that he was master of his thoughts, and I also believe that the way many things we experience, are a result of how we think of it. How we see it. 

It is of course undeniable that our world is full of surprises and challenges, but this does not mean that our mental well-being depends on it. How we feel depends largely on how we think. We have the power and choice to turn something beautiful into something negative, and vice versa. 

If I take my job as an example - I have always dreamed of my current way of working, which is remote and digital. Yet, I have often managed to experience stress and a feeling of unhappiness. Not because I miss my colleagues or anything, (sorry to those who see this, but it's simply the truth), but more because I've somehow taught myself to think in problems rather than solutions, and to let myself being bothered by things which are of no importance at all. I don't feel the need to share details about this, but I do want to say that sometimes I surprise myself afterwards when I evaluate things like this, but ok!

While we are in heaven, we can create our own hell

It comes down to that while we are in heaven, we can create our own hell, and vice versa. That's why Epictetus's wisdom can be of great use here, because he was someone who was able to provide practical advice to make people think differently. To make people think in a better way, which also changed their whole experience and outlook on life. This is something we can do as well, and that's why this quote is so great! Let me repeat it once again: “It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment ABOUT things”. 

We are capable of controlling our judgments, therefore we are capable of being in control of our life's quality as well. If you know me, you know I don't like the word “judgments”, or to judge at all. That's why I prefer to say, “it's not the things that trouble us, but it's how we decide to see things”. I believe that's the whole point of it, anyway. 

But now probably the question arises: “How? How can we start thinking differently? How can we start seeing things differently?" or if you want to use the judgment word: “how can we change our judgment about things?” Epictetus's advice was to start small, and that's also exactly what my first suggestion would be. 

Train the “algorithm”

I work in IT, so I'm going to use some system metaphors. I see my current being as a system that is continuously being built on. It is updated and refreshed daily, and a large algorithm has been worked on from the start. That algorithm is just machine learning. It learns from what you think, decide, and execute on a daily basis. Based on that, it's going to feed your mind.

The longer you've trained that algorithm to live one way, the harder it can be to live another way. So it is important that you start to clean up the system, and it is unwise to delete everything right away because there may still be important files that you do not want to delete. So this has to be done slowly.

Exactly the same goes for this whole story. You have to do this slowly. Start with the minor annoyances in your life. Try to live in the moment, consciously as much as possible, and if you spill a drink or drop something, just stay calm. Now I just mentioned an example. Of course, I don't know what gets you annoyed, but I hope you understand what I mean, and you probably do. You're smart, and when you get better at it, you slowly get ready for new steps to take. To reach a whole other level. Closer to mind mastery. More skilled at the art of life. Keep developing this new system and learn your algorithm new things. 

What's next?

In my next blog post/video, I want to talk about another piece of advice from Epictetus, which is connected to all of this, and which is also a required step to proceed with the development of seeing things differently, changing our judgment about things, or whatever you want to call it. Make sure you stay tuned and don't miss anything about this very interesting and life changing topic/philosophy! See you in the next one. Keep maximizing.