Seneca says, “show me someone who isn’t a slave! One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to power , and all are slaves to fear. He goes on to say “No servitude is more abject than the self-imposed”. 

What it is in our daily lives that we think we can’t live without? What is it that we just have to. Have? What be calling us?

I know for me most morning is that first piping hot cup of coffee, and some quite time of reading or writing it’s purely psycho-somatic, but I still feel somewhat off sometimes when I don’t have one, and sometimes I don’t read or write but just sit and watch TV because I am put off by no coffee.  What else is it that we are addicted to? Our routines, are phone, our cars, wealth, power, what else keeps us in chains? 

Epictetus says “anyone who truly wants to be free, won’t desire something that is actually in someone else’s control, unless they want to be a slave”. All these things that we feel that we need or can’t do without can be taken away from us in an instant, we can lose the car, lose our wealth, and run out of coffee…God forbid!  What then our you left with? Are you your desires, or are you more than that? 

Routines are good we are all sometimes creatures of habit, but we shouldn’t get dependent on that, the one thing that is constant is change. And we should embrace that in parts of our lives. Would it be so bad to have to downsize our SUV if it means we can get save more money? Would it be so bad to take a slight pay cut in the field of your passion if it meant moving to a great city, and the opportunity to meet new people? Do you always need the latest, biggest and newest thing? What are you living for, that object or your objective?

What it is in our daily lives that we think we can’t live without? What is it that we just have to. Have? What be calling us?

I know for me most morning is that first piping hot cup of coffee, and some quite time of reading or writing it’s purely psycho-somatic, but I still feel somewhat off sometimes when I don’t have one, and sometimes I don’t read or write but just sit and watch TV because I am put off by no coffee.  What else is it that we are addicted to? Our routines, are phone, our cars, wealth, power, what else keeps us in chains? 

Epictetus says “anyone who truly wants to be free, won’t desire something that is actually in someone else’s control, unless they want to be a slave”. All these things that we feel that we need or can’t do without can be taken away from us in an instant, we can lose the car, lose our wealth, and run out of coffee…God forbid!  What then our you left with? Are you your desires, or are you more than that? 

Routines are good we are all sometimes creatures of habit, but we shouldn’t get dependent on that, the one thing that is constant is change. And we should embrace that in parts of our lives. Would it be so bad to have to downsize our SUV if it means we can get save more money? Would it be so bad to take a slight pay cut in the field of your passion if it meant moving to a great city, and the opportunity to meet new people? Do you always need the latest, biggest and newest thing? What are you living for, that object or your objective?