Name: How to Be a Stoic: 12 Practical Exercises
Uploaded: 2018-04-07T15:25:25.000Z
Duration: 6 min 7 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

[Instructor] 12 practical stoic exercises

you'll find yourself
feeling less miserable.

The first exercise is to
examine your impressions.

Evaluate your initial
reactions to events, people

and what you are told
by taking a step back

over emotional reactions
cause unnecessary troubles.

If it is, then act on it,
if it isn't, then chill out.

and went to check if it
was there, it was gone.

Instead of freaking out
and feeling like crap,

I accepted the situation for what it was,

went and asked the security
desk to see if they had it

where I had to accept that I had lost it.

I went on with my day
like nothing happened

The second exercise is to remind yourself

This year my girlfriend and
I broke and I lost my mother,

to hold myself together
is because of this lesson,

but that doesn't mean you
can't enjoy every moment

leading up to the loss
of someone or something.

To me it's a much healthier way of living,

The third exercise is the reverse clause.

A night out to the movies
could involve obnoxious people

who talk loudly and are
so chained to their phones

that they have to check their
messages every seven seconds,

an act which is accompanied by
a devastating stream of light

By mentally rehearsing a
scenario like this one,

you prime yourself to be in
line with how the world works

and in therefore less
agitated than the average Joe

who expects that everything will go well.

The fourth exercise, we
should be asking ourselves

is a perfectly good chance
to work on self improvement.

I remember getting
stranded on my motorbike

in Thailand at 1 AM in the
morning, I had a flaty.

what had just happened
as a learning experience.

Five minutes later two
Thai guys pulled over

and towed me and my bike back to my place

Exercise five, pause
and take a deep breath.

A quote from Epictetus,
remember it is not enough

you must believe that
you are being harmed,

realise that your mind is
complicit in the provocation.

before you respond impulsively
can do you wonders.

that we react in the same patient spirit?

there is a good chance we
would react the same way

Epictetus expresses his fondness
of intellectual discussion

as opposed to fundamentally empty matters

like who slept with who and
Miley Cyrus's choice twerks.

who just likes to talk for the sake of it,

force yourself to be someone you are not,

but what you should take
away from this lesson

is to simply be conscious
of how and what you say

and how much effects yourself and others.

So if you are chatting
to someone for 15 minutes

then I'd suggest you
consider changing the topic,

Subtitles ListPlay Video

How to Be a Stoic: 12 Practical Exercises

scenario

nasty

situation

devastating