INTRO

Wise people say we have little control over most of the aspects of Life. And that letting go of any notion of control can leave us free to enjoy Life more and spend our precious time and energy on what we do control. And what is that? In this episode we explore control, rivers, why the World doesn’t care about us, and what we can indeed control. Mostly. Well, sort of. 

WHAT WE ALK ABOUT

• Learning great ideas from multiple sources and everyday life
• Send your ideas to [email protected]
• Stoic philosophy is about doing life well - Zeno
• Quote: “Don’t ask for things to be as you would like them to be, but wish for them to be as they are, and you will be alright.” (Epictetus)
• Wasting energy by wishing for things you cannot control
• Reality dictates life
• Almost everything is not within your control
• Why it’s a dumb idea to try to divert a river
• Letting go can bring freedom and a lightness
• It’s you that needs to adjust
• Epictetus was not a fatalist
• Accepting reality allows you to cease wasting your time and energy
• Freeing up your mind and resources for what you want instead
• You control your attitude, thoughts, talk and behaviour
• According to neuroscience, maybe not even much of that!
• Quote: “Thinking is just the chatter of the brain” (Bialostockus)
• Behind your actions are your decisions
• The power of choosing actions consciously
• If we weren’t here, nothing would change in the World
• The World is not here for us
• What we do in the World matters and is up to us   
• Send me your ideas, comments, or questions to either [email protected] or on Facebook @wisdomcafewithrob

HOW TO WORK THIS INTO YOUR LIFE

• Give up your plans for World domination - it’ll never happen.
• Pay attention to your thoughts and notice whether they reflect physical or natural reality.
• E.g. You may be thinking, “This is going to work out well.” 
• It may not.
• Try to re-work your self-talk. Instead of the above, try, “I hope this will work out well, I’m doing what I can to make it succeed.”
• Better.
• If it does, you can say things like, “Cool. That went well.”
• If it doesn’t, you can say things like, “Damn! Something didn’t work out. Mind you, it happens. I wonder what it was?”
• Each night, to cultivate reality-based living, you could say to yourself, “I am not in control of most of Life, but I’m gonna try my best to live well. Quod for feret, ferrous aqua animo.”
• That’s Latin for “Come what may, we will meet it with courage.”
• Very true.