The Stoics paved the simple road for us, and that off ramp to sanity is available to anyone wanting to drive away from the asylum we currently inhabit.
Their advice maps out a route to a simple, happy life of inner peace.
The Stoic Path To Living Simply
Live in agreement with nature.
Wealth, status, and power are distractions, and are ultimately irrelevant.
Own only the essentials as happiness can not be found in things.
Let go of the things that can not be controlled, and strive for the mastery of the things we can control - thoughts, opinions, decisions and duties.
Work for the common good rather than personal gain.
We are born with everything we need to live a virtuous, happy life.
Eliminate toxic emotions that prevent rational responses. The further from anger we are, the stronger we will be.
Focus on present circumstances, where we can actually make a difference.
Our interconnectedness means that mutual cooperation is the only way to resolve our challenges because we are all family.
The Stoic's message is an antidote to the sickness of consumerism and worldly obsessions that have taken over much of our lives.
According to their ideas, we have everything we need right now to make things better for ourselves, and everyone else.
This rational, personal, and active wish is more effective and optimistic than the passive blind hope that someone else will do the long distance driving for us.
And while traveling on the path, do not forget to enjoy the simple things, like sitting in a warm sunbeam.
Thank you for this. The simple life and simple pleasures really are what is important.
ReplyDeleteThis point really resonated with me, Gregg and Linda: “We are born with everything we need to live a virtuous, happy life.” There are a lot of messages culturally, in consumer ads, even in books that say we are “not enough” (and of course, to buy things to make us feel and become enough)…Though we are certainly human and imperfect- we are still enough!
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