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Today’s Agenda
What Is (and Isn’t) Up to Us
Good Morning!
"The time is always right to do what is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Happy Monday, everybody! I hope you have today off. If you don’t, then just remember Friday’s edition about the boulder—you get a head start up that hill this week!
I was thinking about where to go from Existentialism last week. Many people requested that I do a week on Stoicism, and I think that’s a perfect segue from the abstract and absurd into the clear and concrete. So this week we’re going to learn about Stoicism from Epictetus, Seneca, and of course, Marcus Aurelius.
Today, for our main course, we’re going to dive into the philosopher who introduced me to Stoicism, Epictetus. We’re going to see what he has to say about control, freedom, and inner sovereignty. Following that, we’re going to make it a thought exercise to incorporate what we learn. We’ll finish off with a passage from Epictetus’ Enchiridion.
Have a seat, Thought Breakfast is served!
Today’s Breakfast
The Illusion of Control
Epictetus tells us that most daily anxieties come from a place of misplaced effort. We exhaust our energy while trying to manage things that are completely outside of our own control (other people’s actions, outcomes, and futures we can’t guarantee, etc.). He says, “Suffering begins when we claim responsibility for what isn’t ours.”
So he makes a radical distinction that he prescribes as the forethought of every emotional reaction. There are two categories: things that are up to us and things that are not.
What is up to us? Our judgments, intentions, values, and responses.
What isn’t?
Our bodies (you don’t want the flu but you get it anyway)
Our reputation (you don’t know what people say behind your back)
Our outcomes (they tend to depend on others)
Other people (self-explanatory)
This distinction isn’t supposed to be a pessimistic worldview, but a liberation. A clear conscience of this distinction will open your eyes to what’s in your control and your emotional intelligence will skyrocket.
Anxiety enters the conversation when we demand control where none exists and where we tie our peace to the outcomes. If you came to Epictetus with anxiety, he would say something like: “You are exhausted because you’re guarding someone else’s house.”
There’s an important place here that creates misconceptions about Stoicism. Most people mistake it for apathy, an indifference to the world and what happens. That’s simply just not what it is. It’s more about right-sized responsibility. Whereas last week, the idea of freedom and responsibility came from an abstract, existential, make-it-yourself kind of place… this school of thought rips away all of the layers that are outside of your control. Once those layers are ripped away, you can see what’s truly yours and what isn’t.
Burn Those Thought Calories
The Control Inventory
Ask yourself honestly:
What am I worried about that I do not control?
What do I control inside this situation?
What would change today if I released the rest?
Peace starts when effort is correctly aligned.
Book Nook
“Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us.
Up to us are opinion, impulse, desire, aversion—in short, whatever is our own doing.
Not up to us are our body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not our own doing.
If you think that what is not your own is your own, you will be hindered, miserable, and disturbed.
But if you think that only what is your own is your own, no one will ever compel or restrain you.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion §1
He doesn’t promise comfort. He promises clarity. Freedom is not about gaining control over new things, it’s about placing responsibility where it properly belongs; arguably a solution beyond the typical one offered by existentialism.
Munch on that for today. Remember that freedom begins the moment we stop arguing with reality. Take inventory of what’s truly yours, and see how your life begins to take a new shape. As always, come back tomorrow for a brand new, steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!
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That’s it for today.
Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.
Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast
