A 70-Something Page Book That Reframed Things For Me
It randomly came in the mail, and coincidences don't exist
The other day I got a random book in the mail that I didn’t order. It’s 70-something pages long and when I saw the cover, I was surprised because it came in at the perfect timing.
It’s called The Little Book of Stoic Quotes by Phil Van Treuren.
I want to share some quotes from it that I found to be really good reminders. Whether you’re interested in self improvement, want to build skills online as an entrepreneur, or are looking to increase the quality of your life I know these will be great reminders for you.
Let me know which resonates with you the most.
“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind, for things have no natural power to shape our judgements.” – Marcus Aurelius
We’re always being asked to take a side. About anything. It’s like there’s a “team” for everything.
To build a business, you should do it this way and not that way. To be healthier, you should start like this and not like that. To network well you’ve got to do this instead of what fits you best. Although taking tips from others can be beneficial, I think it’s important to be careful about whether you’re ignoring your own opinions about things.
When I first began building online, I started writing on Medium. I remember reading hundreds of articles about how to start an online business and how to build skills. I couldn’t help but to feel pressured to do things in a specific way even though I had every impulse to take another route.
For example, I loved filming. Creating videos on YouTube was exhilarating for me. And still is. But I felt like I had to write and focus on that more than filming. Even though it’s the truth, every piece of content I came across was telling me I should focus on writing over anything else. I think to run a successful business you should build upon the skill of writing. But I guess what I’m saying is that you don’t need to feel like you have to have a certain opinion about something in such a way that you think that holding that opinion is the only way you will get your desired outcomes.
So this quote reminds me that I really don’t need to think about building a business in any specific way other than my own impulses about what skills I want to personally build on.
We always get to shape our judgments about things. It takes grit to do this, because many people just conform to what others think about things and try to fit in. But you’ve really just got to get good at taking initiative in your own mind and leading yourself to autonomy in your own mind.
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” – Seneca
How you imagine things to be will shape the quality of your life. We often tend to imagine things not working out, or even imagining that a journey will be hard to go on before we even take the first step.
But your imagination about how something will go is only that–imagination–an image in your mind that you’re coming up with.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to happen or that it won’t happen.
Just as much as you can suffer in your imagination, you can also choose to have fun with it. So this quote reminds me that with my own thoughts, I can shape my imagination instead of letting it run wild.
Our minds are wired to protect us from dangers, so it makes sense that sometimes we imagine things to be a threat or challenging even when they aren’t. Here’s a great article to read about this.
“Average people think that anything helpful or harmful comes from others. Extraordinary people know that help and harm are only found within ourselves.” – Epictetus
This comes down to reframing things.
Whatever is happening in your life is up to you to think whether or not it is helping or hurting you. It’s simple. God gave you this ability to use your mind to either help yourself or not. And of course, when you help yourself that’s when you can help others.
“No one can lose the past or the future. How can you be deprived of what you don’t own?” – Marcus Aurelius
You have everything you need right now. You are not at a loss. We live in an abundant world. In every single moment God supplies you with literally everything you need in order to get to a place where He wants you to be (and that also fulfills you because He knows you better than yourself).
“It’s not things that upset us, but our judgements about things.” – Epictetus
Your inner dialogue. What’s happening with it?
Let’s compare two people in a super, super long line. Both are not in a rush. However, one of them complains because the line is long, even though they have nowhere to go. That person gets upset because the line is just… long. But the other person doesn’t get upset because they see it as an opportunity to clear their mind, take a couple of breaths, and just relax before they get their coffee. Can you tell which is happy and which isn’t?
No matter what challenges you’re going through, how can you reframe them in a way that makes you motivated or disciplined to get through them?
Hopefully you enjoyed this article and that it encouraged you to think differently. Which quote resonated with you? Let me know in the comments.