I'm so tired. The truth is that I don't have to be up for another hour or so. I could go back to bed after my son goes to school, but it would be healthier for me to stay up and try to create a more normal sleeping pattern for myself. So that's what I'm going to do. I feel sick. I probably wouldn't have any luck going to the gym right now. I do think I can walk slowly on the treadmill. It's something. Even if I can only do a little, that's what I should do.
I read a quote from Marcus this morning about slavery to emotions. I don't think that people have to control their emotions, necessarily. Sometimes that's beneficial. Sometimes it isn't. It is important to keep our emotions from controlling us when possible. My wife and I were working to get our son ready for school this morning. Any number of times, I wanted to say something grouchy. I was groggy - it didn't have anything to do with her. I avoided doing this almost entirely, which I will consider a success.
I realized that we become slaves when we act on emotions in ways that our future selves wouldn't approve of. If I'd been grouchy with her, it would have prolong those negative emotions. Instead of having a few seconds here of impatience or discomfort, I'd have been arguing with my wife for minutes at a time, at the very least. It could have lasted all day. Additionally, speaking the emotion would have given it weight it didn't previously have. I wouldn't say that this should be done for all emotions, positive or negative, but some feelings can be easily dismissed as tiny inconvenient whims attempting to make themselves large in our lives by shouting to gain our attention.
I think one of the most interesting aspects to Stoicism is that it isn't about ignoring emotion. It's about allowing the rational mind to decide which emotions to pay attention to, and what sort of attention to pay them. The goal is to have our emotions work for us rather than the other way around. This is an art that one learns over time. It's a series of virtues that one develops. Book knowledge helps, but crafting the soul is mostly hands-on work.
I read a quote from Marcus this morning about slavery to emotions. I don't think that people have to control their emotions, necessarily. Sometimes that's beneficial. Sometimes it isn't. It is important to keep our emotions from controlling us when possible. My wife and I were working to get our son ready for school this morning. Any number of times, I wanted to say something grouchy. I was groggy - it didn't have anything to do with her. I avoided doing this almost entirely, which I will consider a success.
I realized that we become slaves when we act on emotions in ways that our future selves wouldn't approve of. If I'd been grouchy with her, it would have prolong those negative emotions. Instead of having a few seconds here of impatience or discomfort, I'd have been arguing with my wife for minutes at a time, at the very least. It could have lasted all day. Additionally, speaking the emotion would have given it weight it didn't previously have. I wouldn't say that this should be done for all emotions, positive or negative, but some feelings can be easily dismissed as tiny inconvenient whims attempting to make themselves large in our lives by shouting to gain our attention.
I think one of the most interesting aspects to Stoicism is that it isn't about ignoring emotion. It's about allowing the rational mind to decide which emotions to pay attention to, and what sort of attention to pay them. The goal is to have our emotions work for us rather than the other way around. This is an art that one learns over time. It's a series of virtues that one develops. Book knowledge helps, but crafting the soul is mostly hands-on work.
No comments:
Post a Comment