According to Stoicism, cultivating a great mental state is the secret to leading a happy life. An attitude of serene indifference toward outside events and a life lived in harmony with nature are the optimum ways to live. The first thing to mentally grasp is that some things are under our control and some things are not. Accordingly, a lot of our misery is brought on by believing that we have control over things that we don’t. Actually, we have very little control. We have no influence over the things that occur to us, the words or deeds of those around us, and we have no real power even over our own bodies, which suffer injuries, become ill, and eventually pass away. The only thing we can truly control is our thoughts. Understanding this assists on you being your best.

So, it’s not the things themselves that bother us, but how we perceive them. Things happen all the time, and we pass judgment on what transpires. Depending on what happened because if we believe it to be truly negative, we may become disturbed, disappointed, or pissed off. If we believe that something horrible is going to occur, we can become worried or afraid. All of these feelings are the result of our judgments, obviously. Things are value-neutral in and of themselves because what we consider to be dreadful may be ignored or even welcomed by some people. Value enters the scene through the judgments we make, and it is these value judgments that cause our emotional reactions.

The only thing we have full control over is our value judgments. We can choose how we regard the things that occur; none of them are necessarily good or bad. Thus, the paradox of stoicism is that while we have little actual control over anything, we may have total power over our happiness.

This may initially appear to understate the very real difficulties that people deal with on a daily basis. So, how does changing one’s perspective assist someone who, for example, struggles to just get by in life? The Stoics did not avoid this. They were fully aware that life can be challenging at times.

To help people learn to apply Stoic principles to their daily lives, the Stoics created a whole host of useful exercises. For instances, take stock at the end of each day by noting the little things that anger you, the times you react furiously to someone who maybe didn’t deserve it, etc. Making note of your errors will help you improve the next day.

Every morning, remember that your day will likely contain some interaction with difficult people. Thinking about this beforehand, will help enable react you to not react negatively. Most of those individuals would mistakenly behave in this way. They fell prey to their own erroneous judgments and thoughts. Nobody chooses to feel sad, anxious, furious, or miserable, yet all of these emotions are a result of our judgments, which is the only thing we can influence.

Likewise, another Stoic tactic is to constantly remind ourselves of how insignificant we are. Marcus Aurelius frequently thought about the size of the cosmos and the endlessness of time to put his own brief existence in a larger context. Indeed, when viewed from this cosmic perspective, our lives are simply moments. Given this, why should we anticipate receiving whatever it is that we may desire from the universe? On the other hand, to demand that it do as we say would be ludicrous.

You will be let down expecting the universe to give you what you desire. Yet, if you accept whatever the universe presents, life will go much more smoothly. Again, this is easier said than done, but an increasing number of individuals are heeding this Stoic counsel and making an effort to apply it to their daily lives. They are actively making the best version of themselves and training their minds to be happy. Maybe, it’s time for being your best?