Grant me the serenity to a accept the things I cannot change Courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
Comment on Anon solves mental health
nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Stoics recognize problems in two categories, problems you can fix and problems you can’t. In neither case anxiety adds anything to the solution.
Agent641@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Draegur@lemm.ee 3 months ago
How I arrived upon my stance regarding elections.
There is nothing any one person can do on an individual basis to make the candidate they want to win actually succeed, especially if the aristocratic establishment is dead set on stopping them with all their resources, power, connections, and influence.
But what will make me feel better is if the candidate I despise the most loses. And voting for their biggest challenger out of spite, although incapable of amendong the above problem, can at least perform the singular at least satisfying consolation function of scratching an itch.
They want us to support the lesser of two evils;
I want us to punish the greater of two evils.
We are not the same.
The lesser evil must, unfortunately, wait until the greater evil is dealt with. Then we can kill it too.
Business before pleasure.
flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
You area a gentleperson and a scholar!
Comment105@lemm.ee 3 months ago
gentleperson is a gross fucking word
match@pawb.social 3 months ago
a gentry and a landowner
flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Agreed, but people are pretty gross all round
match@pawb.social 3 months ago
What about problems I can fix but only if I worry enough about them
nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
I suppose the initial realization that you have a problem can cause you to worry, or the inverse, you may worry that something may become a problem. Once this emotion has had its effect and you have identified whether it’s a problem you can fix (and if so, you’ve made a plan to execute to the best of your ability), anxiety ceases to have any utility.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 months ago
Now explain that to my anxiety.
nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
I can’t. It’s up to you to explain it to your anxiety. 💪🏻
Klear@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I should stop choosing to be anxious.
nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
I know it sounds trite and a good candidate for thanksimcured, but essentially, yes. It is not reality that is causing your anxiety but your perception of it, and you have some degree of control over that.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
One thing that can tangibly help is to lay out the consequences of inaction. Just knowing the worst case (among likely outcomes) can help reduce anxiety substantially. Then assess how much control you have in addressing the problem and getting a better outcome, and how much effort that will cost you vs the consequences.
A lot of anxiety comes from the unknown. We may not be able to completely unmask the unknown, but we can often estimate the consequences. For example:
And so on. If you can identify the worst case scenarios and your options, it’s a lot easier to manage anxiety. Doing that can be uncomfortable, but it’s basically what a therapist will do with you, so it’s a great skill to learn.
nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
This is a great technique, usually referred to as negative visualisation. Epictetus put it like this: *Hold death and exile and all that seems dreadful before your eyes every day, but most of all death: and you will never think of anything bad or desire anything too much. *
Memento mori.
Apytele@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Chadus_Maximus@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Same. I got rid of anxious thoughts because I had more important stuff to deal with. When there is nothing that you need to do, this simultaneously means that you need to do everything.
ZarkleFarkle@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/circle-theorems.html
undergroundoverground@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Specifically, you should stop trying to make major changes to the world and society, so as to protect the established order.
I mean, its a perfectly good place to start and a great outlook, if you’re slave or a dirt poor peasant living during the slow collapse of the Roman empire, where your crops have failed, your children are all dying from the water you drink and you’ve just been raised by the 5th rampaging warlord this year.
There are other schools of thought that have carried on from this which have been refined and improved on. However, there’s a certain part of the political and online sphere who only like philosophy that developed during a time when slavery was normalised, for some reason or another. Cant think why that might be…
I mean, if I was a sociopathic wealth devouring monster, intent on subjugating everyone in the world, I’d have the population taught some type of Christian stoicism mash up.