Good Morning!! Happy Tuesday everybody! We’re a day past Monday, so everyone should already be off to a great (if not relatively better) start. Yesterday, we talked about how what you attend to shapes who you become. Today, we’ll talk about how you attend.

Today, for our main course, we’re diving back into the Stoics who inherited a lot of Plato and Aristotle’s ideas about attention. To burn that off, we’ll do a Stoic-style audit of our impressions. To wrap it up with our Book Nook, we’ll open up Epictetus’ Discourses.

Pull up your seat, Thought Breakfast is served!

Yesterday, we learned about attention as orientation (Plato) and cultivation (Aristotle). Today, we’ll learn about attention, from the Stoics, as moral perception and inner governance.

The Stoics have a word for this: prosoche. Prosoche means constant attention, vigilance, and mindful self-awareness. It’s the foundational Stoic practice. It closely parallels the Buddhist foundational practice of mindfulness, but has a unique focus on the moral and intentional. So attention, under prosoche, isn’t passive at all. As Marcus Aurelius said, it’s guarding the inner citadel. Where Plato would tell us that we are what we place our attention on, the Stoics would tell us that we become what we give our minds to. This takes Plato’s attention and shifts it drastically inward.

This line of thought starts with noticing our impressions (phantasia). Everything we experience starts with an impression. Stoic attention is catching the impression before it becomes a belief… before the mind starts to passively identify itself with the impression. The second step would be to evaluate this impression, asking yourself, “Is this in my control?” Correct attention here filters what’s deserving of your energy (that is, your mental energy). Finally, you choose your response. The chronology starts with attention, then turns to judgment, then finally to action. This linear mode of thought echoes Aristotle’s prohairesis but remains unique with a greater emphasis on inner freedom.

Correctly placed and filtered attention is how we prevent ourselves from being ruled by our impulses, emotions, and external events. Actively and intentionally placing your attention helps you reclaim ownership of your inner life. Marcus Aurelius said, “Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently dwell on.” Therefore, to the Stoics, attention itself is self-formation.

This is a daily discipline to the likes of Aurelius and Epictetus. Epictetus says, “Every habit and faculty is formed by the acts which we perform.” Attention is placed at the root of this. It’s the root habit that determines all other habits. Repeated attentive choices lead to a stable character, which leads us to flourish and live morally good, disciplined lives.

Ask yourself three questions throughout the day:

The goal here isn’t to eliminate those impressions, but rather to reduce the unconscious assent.

“When anything appears to you, take care to consider it carefully and test it by the rules you possess. And first, see whether it concerns the things that are within our power or those that are not.”
- Epictetus, Discourses 2.22

This is the Stoic idea of attention distilled down to its essence. You have to slow down your impressions, test them, and then act from a place of clarity.

You’re creating space between the stimulus and your response. The importance of this discipline needs no emphasis. All rash actions and things we do that we might regret later stem from this principle of reacting solely to stimuli rather than taking personal inventory of the impression before deciding to act upon it.

Otherwise, we become slaves to our impulses. Our actions become emotionally charged and it starts a vicious cycle of acting before thinking. Thus, attention is actually liberation from the irrational self.

Where you place your attention, and the manner in which you do so, will ultimately determine your direction and character.

Munch on that for today. The Stoics, Epictetus especially, offer such incredible wisdom that is actually practical in daily life. If you take one thing away from today’s edition, notice where you’re giving the most attention. Then just ask if whatever it is, is in your control, and therefore worth your attention.

Have a great day, and come back tomorrow for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

Thank you for reading along with us today! If you enjoy this content, and want to start your days grounded in thought and mindfulness, I suggest you have a seat at our table! Smash that button below to check out more editions and subscribe!

Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast