Wisdom Builder
Takeaways
MODE:
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6 minutes
TAKE CONTROL.
10 random takeaways.
1.
Column summary:
This year’s resolution isn’t about doing more or becoming someone new. It’s about living deliberately. When you imagine repeating this life again and again, excuses fall away. Some habits lose their grip. Some dreams stop waiting. The Year of the Eternal Recurrence invites honest choices, made now, in real time.
2.
Quote:
- Epictetus.
- 108 CE.
Emotional resilience is about developing the ability to withstand and adapt to life’s challenges, setbacks, and disappointments. According to Stoic thought, our emotional reactions stem primarily from our beliefs, judgments, and thoughts about events, rather than the events themselves. By managing your emotions more effectively, you can minimize the negative impact of adversity.
3.
From History:
New Look
Govern yourself before reacting to the world. To take control of your life, discipline desire, judgment, and action so your intent becomes clearer, stronger, and more ethical. Maybe focusing on all the virtues at once is a bit much. My recommendation? Throughout life, focus on the four cardinal virtues of stoicism: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. All while learning how to separate what you can control from what you cannot.
4.
You do not control every force shaping your life, but you have some control. Determinism says events are already set by prior causes. Indeterminism says the future is not fully fixed, leaving room for agency. One of life’s great mysteries is the degree to which your circumstances influence every decision. For sure, you were born into a particular spacetime and experienced life. That determines much, but not all. You do have the ability to pause, reflect, resist bad impulses, and choose your next action wisely. Whatever Free Will ultimately is, take control of the part that feels genuinely yours.
5.
Quote:
- Friedrich Nietzsche.
- 1882.
Nietzsche’s idea of Eternal Recurrence asks us to treat life as if it will repeat endlessly. Not as fate or punishment, but as a measure of affirmation. Would you embrace your choices, struggles, and values again? If not, the task is clear: walk through life more deliberately, honestly, and fully.
6.
From History: Maya, Illusion.
We all live with cognitive biases, the mental shortcuts that help simplify a complex world. They are useful, but they also distort judgment. They are not moral failures, but they do require correction. To take control of your biases, start by owning them. Notice the pattern. Name it. Slow down. Then use structured reasoning and evidence to recalibrate your confidence. This helps reduce inflated certainty, emotional reaction, and tribal thinking.
7.
You cannot control every situation or every order handed to you, but you still control your part in what happens next. Listen to authority and consider its guidance, but do not surrender your moral agency. Think through your intent, choose the best action you can, and take responsibility for your choice.
8.
Quote:
- Marcus Aurelius.
- circa 160 CE.
Your inner life is molded by your mindset. When we choose to perceive experiences positively or negatively, those thoughts eventually define and manifest in our character, profoundly influencing how we react and live. You cannot control every event, but you can shape the meaning you give it. Notice the thought darkening your inner life, test it against reality, and choose a steadier one.
9.
From History:
New Look
The modern focus on Epicureanism is its dichotomy of pleasure. Manage pleasure before pleasure manages you. Epicurus wants you to prefer long-term pleasures over short-term ones. Take control of your choices, stay clean, sober, and productive and choose to let go of unnecessary fear and anger. To take control of your life, practice the simple pleasures that support flourishing and loosen the grip of immediate pleasures that quietly control you.
10.
You believe stuff, and there’s stuff you reject. Your agnostic views are the ones in between. While many types of agnosticism are defined, in my writing there are only two: apathetic and explorative. And both only apply to speculative claims. And, disproven claims are let go of as truth, and I hope the stuff you believe first focuses on the proven. In common use, agnostic sometimes limits uncertainty to God or gods, but that’s too narrow. Correct that common error and use agnosticism on a per claim basis. For each topic, evaluate if you are a believer, agnostic, or skeptic. Within your agnostic topics, decide if you want to be explorative or apathetic. An apathetic agnostic position can be your most powerful move. That is you saying: I don’t know, and I don’t need to spend myself on this.
The End. Refresh for another set.