I have read a book.
It’s no big deal, I know. BUT it wasn’t an “ordinary” novel or short story.
I’ve started reading the book called The Daily Stoic on 15th August, last year. It contains meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance and the Art of living from ancient stoics, like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca, Zeno, and many more. 366 of those thoughts, quite accurately. Lessons on personal growth, life management and mindfulness practices. For easier understanding, commentaries help make it easier for today’s people to incorporate thoughts into their busy everyday lives. The advices are so clear that you can take action right away. Thus, it is justified why it is a daily devotional book. Before the start, it ran through my mind to run over and read through it in a few days, (like there’s no tomorrow) but soon I had to realize that this was not the good approach. Self-discipline is a significant part of Stoic philosophy.
Without getting too deep into it, let’s talk a little bit about this idea of Marcus Aurelius. It was the first that had an impact on and made sense to me.
It would certainly be fantastic to live our lives in complete tranquility, without any distraction and inconveniences, but life is not like that. To quote a classic, “Things happen,”. We can’t control events, but the way we react to those events. That is the only thing that really is under our control. It is already clear, that Stoicism (and the book) is not a collection of frivolous quotes. It’s not an easy ride, there’s lots of work in it to accept and to apply it (and of course there are people who don’t like it at all… that’s perfectly fine too). If we manage to let this one sink in and accept it, we can already have a much calmer life. This does not mean giving up control, on the contrary: this is how we will really have control over our own lives.
However, in order to embrace such thoughts and make them an active part of our lives, often we have to work on our mindset. Usually, the desire for success motivates us (= happiness?) And since success (and happiness) means different things to everyone, this is a relatively universal reason. However, before the work begins, one must first accept the fact that they are not maximally satisfied with their situation. This is not easy, no matter how self-aware you are.
Aristotle made a distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness. Not a simple word, I know. I also struggle when I want to pronounce it nicely (it’s not that nice of a word anyway, or is it ?).
Hedonic happiness
- is arising from an external motivation
- is money, fame, material things and appearances
- is joy, what is more intense but only last for a while (which doesn’t detract its value, of course)
Eudaimonic happiness
- comes from an internal motivation
- is personal development and self realization, something done for others and ourselves in accordance with our values
- is well-being, what’s the happiness of the mind
All this makes me believe that joy is very important in our lives, but without well -being it is close to nothing.