Day 4 Stoicism

The Stoic Reserve Clause or Hupexhairesis

is a term used to doing the best of your ability in a certain event but calmly accepting that the outcome is not under your control.

The analogy here is how a bowman tries to hit the bullseye. The bowman can perfect his aim and do all that he must within his capacity and increase the chance of hitting. However, this does not make sure that he would hit the bullseye. One must remember that despite one's attempt in achieving something we may not get what we want or deserve. What matters is our intention and sincere effort in doing our best to get that desired outcome but accepting what it may be. The best course of action here is to think of this as a way for us to test our character and virtue. If things go unfavorable towards us we must seek it as an opportunity to grow and excel.

Knowing that things may not always go our way, we must prepare and forecast these misfortunes and make sure our mind is prepared when the unfortunate events unfold. Seneca calls this praemeditatio or the "premeditation of adversity."

In Marcus Aurelius' morning routines he consistently tells himself two things :

"When you first rise in the morning tell yourself: I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars, the jealous and cranks."

Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.”

*Since he was with Roman nobles and politics back then were tense he makes sure that he calmly go over these types of people.

Being able to prepare our mindset in the morning heading towards the day puts us a step ahead when it comes to dealing with the challenges and obstacles we would soon encounter. Consequently, this builds up our emotional resilience meaning we could endure long-term stress or fears without being overwhelmed by them .