If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
September 3
“We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven’t prepared.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.2.32
If I have trained hard enough, the actual event is made much easier. When I was on active duty, my workouts were always harder than our Physical Fitness Test, for this reason, outside of being injured a few times, I was always able to score a first class using the young man scoring system. The same went for combat training. Now I am more concerned with my mental training to handle difficulties and frustrations. As I train my mind by seeking out difficulties, they become easier to deal with. They are still there and I am not always successful at not getting frustrated and angry when that mentality helps nothing and often actively hinders what I am trying to do.
September 4
“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”
—SENECA, ON PROVIDENCE, 4.3
This reminds me of Fear Factor. Many times a contestant would say, “That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done!”. To which Joe Rogan would reply, “What kind of life have you had?”. Personally, I have never been through Marine Corps Recon training or the equivalent, but I have been through some difficult training and have had to fight through fatigue and pain in order to complete the mission. I always wonder if you’ve never been tested, how do you know where your limits are? Another thing from Fear Factor that always amused me was when soft people would be getting ready for a challenge and they honestly believed they would not quit because it was a matter of wanting it bad enough. There is a point where your body says NO, regardless of how bad you want it. Training and challenging yourself physically and mentally can push that point further away, but it will always be there.
September 5
“Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people. But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours, then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you, you will find no one to blame or accuse, you will do nothing against your will, you will have no enemy, no one will harm you, because no harm can affect you.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 1.3
I sometimes wonder why Stoicism isn’t more popular. Passages like this are part of the reason I am sure. This statement does not help to make people dependent on the government and it is a reminder that no one is responsible for my happiness but me. As long as I have no desires outside of my control, I am free. When I am controlled by a desire for something totally outside of my control, I am controlled by outside forces.
September 6
“You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.1.23
If I ever wind up in prison, I will do my best to remain mentally free. The same attitude applies to being financially free. No matter the external forces, I need to remember that my internal choices are all that matter when I start stressing out about things that I don’t control. I hurt my back 6 weeks ago and was unable to workout or run until this week. I was getting upset, because I had just started to feel like I was back in shape. Ran on Monday and it was slow, but since I ran at my normal effort for a 30 minute run getting upset would not help. Ran again on Wednesday and while still slower than before, it was faster than Monday. Next week I go back to my 4x a week running and start the gym back up. I know it will be a struggle to not compare my old numbers with the ones I will get, but doing that keeps me free from self induced disappointment.
September 7
“Consider who you are. Above all, a human being, carrying no greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.10.1
I am trying to live this way. I still have a boss at work, but nothing I have to do goes against my conscience. When we had DEI training, I sat through it and submitted honest feedback on how insulting and simple minded it was. Because it was my reasoned choice to submit these, I felt able to deal with the consequences, but so far there have been no repercussions.
September 8
“No one is crushed by Fortune, unless they are first deceived by her . . . those who aren’t pompous in good times, don’t have their bubbles burst with change. Against either circumstance, the stable person keeps their rational soul invincible, for it’s precisely in the good times they prove their strength against adversity.”
—SENECA, ON CONSOLATION TO HELVIA, 5.4b, 5b–6
I try not to be crushed by fortune, even as I am the most prosperous I have ever been. I realized a couple weeks ago that I paid as much in taxes last year as I made as a young LCpl (E-3) with 2 kids and a stay at home wife. Looking back to that time, I am not substantially happier now then then, but I have been lucky enough to maintain our happiness through all of the changes in our lives. In some ways there are more problems with more money (larger house costs more to maintain, my old truck cost a boatload to restore), but my wife is very understanding and has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with how much I spend on “The Other Wife” although lately she calls it “The Trophy Wife”.
September 9
“But there is no reason to live and no limit to our miseries if we let our fears predominate.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 13.12b
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that my mother put her life on hold after chemo, because she was “waiting for the scan”. She got the final results back yesterday and she is cancer free. Unfortunately she is a few months behind on physical therapy and her diet was horrible while she was waiting, so she is even more overweight now than she was before chemo. That is not taking into consideration the sleepless nights and crappy days because she was stressed out. I will live as well as I can and let tomorrow worry about itself.
Today’s music is from Death Angel. I had heard this one:
It was good, but I wasn’t a huge fan.
Then my buddy’s girlfriend in mainland Japan sent him a video tape of Japanese MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and we both fell in love with this song:
We went and bought the CD the next weekend, I believe. It has some really good songs including 2 acoustic ones that were still heavy. We used to repeat something my dad had told me once, “heavy metal bands have no talent” when we listened to those 2.
Seemingly Endless Time came up on shuffle while I was running, and then I listened to the whole album for the first time in a long time. It holds up very well.
Many times a contestant would say, “That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done!”. To which Joe Rogan would reply, “What kind of life have you had?”.
Reminds me of the Progressives I knew during my Swing dancing days.
Err… Boston area swing dancing days.
Timely reminder, as my patience with coworkers has become strained.
“We are rejecting this ticket because you should have used *same exact service request form they’d gotten*”
“You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.1.23
Sam Harris would tell this guy freedom of choice is an illusion probably
He would say freedom of choice is good, as long as you choose correctly.
I had a stoicism failure this week. I have em all the time as I am not half as stoic as I would like. But this time I was extra annoyed and then I became annoyed because I was annoyed. I told on these forums the day in question I was caught in pouring rain walking to work and had to stay 40 minutes under some shelter before I could continue. I was furious about it because I got wet anyways and I was 15 minutes from work, and furthermore it was a localized downpour and in most of the city it did not rain a drop, it was all there in the one spot I was. this is the definition of things not under ones control, sunned summer downpours. but i was still pissed of to a strangely large degree, it ruined my day
More colic than stoic?
That sucks, sometimes little things irk me more than actual big problems.
“Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people. But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours, then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you, you will find no one to blame or accuse, you will do nothing against your will, you will have no enemy, no one will harm you, because no harm can affect you.” —EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 1.3
That makes no sense, unless he’s saying that if somebody takes something from you then it’s not really yours, and you should not care about its loss, which is stupid.
My take: Worry about your own stuff, and don’t be thinking that which doesn’t belong to you is yours. Thou shalt not covet.
Worrying about your own stuff doesn’t mean that you” will have no enemy, no one will harm you, or that no harm can affect you.” Because somebody else might want you or your stuff for their own, and be fine with harming you in order to get it.
It isn’t talking about people stealing from you. It’s saying they have no sway over you if you don’t claim what belongs to others as your own.
Exactly my point, that’s patently false.
The ending: “because no harm can affect you”.
It’s saying if you truly understand what is outside of your control, than no one can harm you in that.
According to Stoics your body and possessions are not in your control.
Again, that’s pretty dumb. You can be harmed, and it will affect you, whether you accept it being in your control or not.
Lately I’ve realized that everything we have in this world, including our own lives, is on loan. And the loan on any part or all can be called at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. No cause for despair, it’s simply a fact. So how do we live with this condition? By recognizing that the only thing we really control is our attitude toward the world. That doesn’t say that we shouldn’t resist injustice or cruelty or the whimsies of fate. Simply accept what happens, roll with the punch and continue to live the best life you can…which is the point of the exercise.
Yep, roll with the punches, I get that. Always good advice. But that’s not really what he’s saying here, is it? He’s saying the punches can’t hurt you, as long as you don’t covet what others have.
No, he isn’t saying the punches can’t hurt you, he is saying if you mind your own business you will suffer fewer punches and it will be easier to roll with the ones you do get.
Think about the average proggie. Always miserable, always trying to fix problems that aren’t their business, and always blaming their problems on someone else, and always looking for more problems.
“Climate crisis!” – the climate doesn’t belong to you, it just is. Adapt or die. Like every other living being.
“Student loan crisis!” – the only loan problem is your own. Swallow your pride and get a job or two that pays rather than a career that you think impresses people.
“Covid crisis!” – It isn’t anyone else’s duty to prepare you for mild respiratory illness, and if you weren’t kissing the feet of bureaucrats, you might have had actual doctors working on actual treatments that make even the major respiratory illnesses survivable.
“Abortion crisis!” – The only abortion problem is when you want an abortion and can’t get one. And there are dozens of ways to prevent an unwanted pregnancy but assuming someone else will take care of an unwanted pregnancy is mistake #1. The scope creep after the “rape and incest” arguments never ends because one cannot rationally claim the irresponsible behavior to be freedom but the outcome of such behavior to be oppression.
Are we reading the same thing?
“But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours”
OK, don’t think other people’s stuff should be yours, got it.
“then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you”
“you will find no one to blame or accuse”
“you will do nothing against your will”
“you will have no enemy”
“no one will harm you”
“because no harm can affect you.”
That makes no sense. You can be coerced, have enemies (even if only one-sided), and be harmed, whether you covet other people’s stuff or not.
I concede that it ain’t easy, but it can be done. Example: Let’s say you lust after a Bugatti/Lamborghini/Rolls or whatever’s your choice. You work, skimp and cut every expense to the bone to afford the thing. Finally, comes the glorious day and you’re able to drive it off the showroom floor. Now you’re responsible for maintenance, insurance, repairs (and don’t forget – it’s lost up to half its value the minute you drove it off).
Six months go by. you find that it’s still a great car, but you aren’t as satisfied with it as you were. If you bought it as a status symbol, well, there are newer and sexier rides out there by that time. And you envy the drivers thereof.
Doesn’t it make more sense the want what you have rather than having what you wan’t?
I almost had a stoicism failure this week after last night’s speech. But I remembered by new favorite post of yours about laughter as opposed to sorrow (last week) and I decided laughing at that travesty last night was a better option.
I find that I am now looking forward to Harris as president. It can’t be worse than now.
That’s what New Yorkers thought about their governor…
Thanks for ruining my day.
😉
Fuck
Oh yes it can.
R.J., you mentioned a while ago that you thought a bunch of “Abbott supporters” showing up at a Beta rally to heckle him could be a FF by the Beta campaign. I had the same thought, and almost wanted to email the Abbott campaign to get some head shots from local (to the rally) acting agencies, as it could’ve been worthwhile. Considering that Beta himself showed up to heckle an Abbott meeting, and his cringy campaign came back at him, I could very well see this happen in 2022.
Beto os certifiable. Just an absolute nut case. And he is capable of anything. It frightens me every time he runs for office because quite honestly, he always has a chance of winning.
“But there is no reason to live and no limit to our miseries if we let our fears predominate.”
That’s a good one. And pairs well with the one on misfortune. It’s challenging to experience bad shit and not come away a little beat-up and a little more prone to fear.
Being able to treat every 24 hours as fresh and new is a helluva good skill. I haven’t come close to mastering it yet, but being able to put things in the rear-view is something I am working at.
As always, thanks Ron!
Joe Biden has that skill. Not the slightest idea what he said yesterday.
He has the uncluttered mind of a tot, as Shirley said about Squiggy.
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JFC.
These people…
Meant as a reply to Drake.
It’s a general-purpose comment these days.
Lately I’ve realized that everything we have in this world, including our own lives, is on loan. And the loan on any part or all can be called at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. No cause for despair, it’s simply a fact. So how do we live with this condition? By recognizing that the only thing we really control is our attitude toward the world. That doesn’t say that we shouldn’t resist injustice or cruelty or the whimsies of fate. Simply accept what happens, roll with the punch and continue to live the best life you can…which is the point of the exercise.
Looks like I need to shoot squirrels.
Just grab their nuts and they will do whatever you want
I need a lot of stoicism at the moment. Perhaps I’ll elaborate at a later date, but suffice it to say that the extended Nerfherder family is not in a good place right now.
Sorry, Scruff.
Any way we can help, just ask.
Seconded.
Families and businesses don’t mix well.
Thanks
Confirmed. Rocks ahead for me as well.
Ooof, sorry for you both.
Sorry.
Sorry bub. If you ever make it out to Ferguson again, we’ll commune over drinks.
Absolutely!
Ouch.
I’m wondering if unfamiliar with escalators.
Tourists in NYC stop at the bottom and tops of escalators in Penn Station all the time.
Several times I’ve had to yell at them this year. And once at the since destroyed WTC actually pushed one in the back despite screaming at them multiple times.
She looked at me like a deer in the headlights, but didn’t say a word as I walked off after pushing her out of the way.
I suppose this reply is actually ON topic…
I’m wondering if unfamiliar with escalators.
That’s my assumption.
Tourists
in NYCeverywhere stop at the bottom and tops of escalatorsin Penn Stationall the time.FIFY
* heads towards Quincy Market, gets tourist-shovin’ gloves ready *
I get that tourists aren’t sure where to go after the escalator, whether in a subway station or a shopping mall, but can’t they at least immediately take 5 steps to the right and then get their bearings?
No. No they cannot. Especially if they are a far eastern female.
+1 stout Italian grandmother with her purse
The girlfriend has a habit of just walking through a doorway and stopping right there before deciding where to go. It drives me mad.
5% off coupon!
While tempting, I don’t think she’d be a big fan of that.
See that is what you are supposed to do when you get on the subway.
Never mind the 5 people behind you trying to get on the train before it departs.
Washington Metro flashbacks
I’ve seen enough video to keep me away from escalators and elevators in China.
Many years ago when I was 31 years old and married to my previous husband, we had to move out of our rental house because the landlord was selling it. I was in tip-top physical shape, absolutely smashing it at work, and all was well in my world (well, except for the control freak husband, but I made sure that work kept me away from home as much as possible.)
On moving out day, I was carrying the very last batch of cardboard and junk from the house to the van when I mis-stepped on the three concrete stairs outside the kitchen door. The heel of my shoe awkwardly caught a step and I came down hard with my right foot bent 90 degrees inward. I heard the snap. Then the foot remained wedged while the rest of my body fell in a spiral, twisting pattern.
Once I was face down on the driveway, I looked behind and saw my foot at 180 degrees from normal. I sat up and swung my legs around, right foot flopping. My brain said “you shouldn’t move anything” but the pain said “fuck that” so I used my hands to bring the foot back around to its proper direction.
I alerted the spousal unit and he asked if I could get into the car. I quickly found that NO was the answer so he reluctantly called 911. (The paramedics took one look at my leg and injected morphine; they knew it was bad despite my humor and stoicism.)
Anyway, in the hospital the next day, my then-spouse paced up and down my room like a caged animal. Then a sense of dread came to me, and I asked—very deliberately—“Is this the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?”
He readily answered Yes, thus confirming that my accident had become a huge inconvenience for him.
That was the beginning of our end as a couple. He was NOT stoic, and I was “que sera sera.”
Sounds like a real peach.
I too had one who was, uh, good on paper. (Sounds like a housebroken dog.)
Yeah, there’s theory and then there’s reality.
Yeah, totes.
One of the fun surprises I got after we got married was that he had Microsoft Money software to track spending, and he required a weekly expense report from me: Ho much had I spent on what category and with what method (cash, debit, check etc).
I managed eventually to persuade him that I needed to have an allowance of $100 per month that I didn’t have to account for.
Keep in mind that I was earning $10k more a year at that time than he was.
That’s insane.
I’m not a fan of divorce, but I hope you weren’t married to that guy too long.
7 years, but we were separated at 6 years. Did the divorce through the mail with lawyers.
No kids, no common property. I waived my share of our joint Swiss bank account and got the Eff out.
Know who will undergo a hard winter training?
Never thought was coming…
Pres of Croatia has some thoughts.
We are ruled by cunts.
And not in a good way.
*Kif sigh*
Request? Doesn’t he have a pen and phone?
As it’s a long holiday weekend, and I’ll be on the road at the time the afternoon links drop, I’ll put the open holiday Zoom/Happy Hour/Discussion place here. It’ll be kicked off a bit earlier then usual, and will be open all weekend (or until someone kills it). If people could share the link through the weekend, I’d appreciate it.
Fuck. I’m getting spam texts asking me to support Dr. Oz’s US Senate run.
,em>On Friday, Russian state energy giant Gazprom said it would not resume flows through the pipeline on Saturday as planned because it had detected an oil leak at its Portovaya compressor station. The pipeline has been shut since Wednesday for maintenance.
It didn’t give a timeline of when exports might resume.
That couldn’t have anything to do with the G7 saying they intend to set a cap on the price of Russian oil, could it?
My relative who works at the Zaporozhia nuclear power plant recently returned from a vacation in the Crimea–no border, no frontline since they were liberated by the Russian military. And she regularly receives her paycheck–from the Ukrainians (meaning US taxpayers).
“Liberated” is an interesting way to look at being annexed to Russia.
Yeah; I don’t think the Crimean Tatars feel liberated.
I knew somebody would notice my provocative word choice! But all these terms will be decided by those who will write the history. The winners?
538 thinks the Elephants will take the House from the Donks.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/house/
I think the irrational “abortion limits = Handmaid’s tale” will rear its ugly, ignorant head.
We have an ad in Virginia with a lady that’s “proud to have voted for all the Republicans” starting with Nixon and listing them all.
Then, she says, “Republicans believe in more freedom and less government”.
She then goes on to lament how the Republican lady running for senate is too extreme, because she wants to take away our right to choose.
I don’t know if that’s an effective ad for most people, but the cognitive dissonance hurt my brain.
I just get ads telling me how dreamy Spanberger is.
I expect the GOP Establishment will do what they can to shank the outsiders. They’d rather have a Democrat win than an outsider.
This is true. I remember having lunch with connected Republican insiders in TX during the Tea Party thing. They were unanimous in wanting every Tea Party candidate to lose in the general election, and pretty open that they were, in fact, working to make that happen.
I think Joe is jealous of Zelensky. Why else would he try to portray himself as the besieged leader of an imperiled nation? Just wait. He’ll start wearing one of those SAS commando sweaters everywhere. Maybe some camo face paint, too.
She then goes on to lament how the Republican lady running for senate is too extreme, because she wants to take away our right to choose.
Aaaand there’s something else really pissing me off, these days. Your “right to choose” didn’t just magically activate when you found out you were going to have a baby. You left a trail of “choices” behind you on the road like warm half empty beer cans tossed in the ditch.
Elaine Luria’s commercials against the Republican lady show people outside the Supreme Court, and if you didn’t know what they were doing, just judging by the looks on their faces, you would think a loved one had just died.
“…a loved one had just died.”
Nah, just a parasite, a clump of cells.
An unloved one.
This the most sense that Meghan McCain has ever made.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-11173485/MEGHAN-MCCAIN-Bidens-unhinged-assault-MAGA-Republicans-throws-gas-fire-raging-country.html
Maybe she finally grasps who the “bad guys” are.
Maybe someone cut off her money source.
How unfair of her, when she’s undoubtedly one of those helpful (idiot) Republicans he gave a shout out to during the speech.