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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Micro-Stoicism

Stoicism is a pretty practical philosophy.  As the Stoics all mention, it really isn't about your knowledge of philosophy, or how well you can form syllogisms.  Essentially, Stoicism is a skill.

Thinking in this way, we have to wonder how we can practice this skill, so we can get better at Stoicism, which ultimately should lead us to a happier and more rewarding life.  The Stoics seemed to do this by reflecting on their day's activities, and by writing down Stoic thoughts as Marcus Aurelius did.

I was wondering if there were other ways, though.  One thing I've thought of is something I call "micro-Stoicism", which is practicing Stoic thinking on the smallest things possible.  For example, if I get an itch, I won't scratch it.  Instead, I'll observe I have an itch, and judge the true nature of it.  When I think about it, an itch is nothing bad.  It doesn't have any physical cause, or cause any harm.  Therefore, it is neither good nor bad, and one can ignore it as a purely neutral phenomenon.

I wouldn't try and use this technique to break habits.  There are more effective techniques for that.  But it is useful to come up with similar small opportunities to practice Stoicism.