An Outline for Training The Mind
/“There are three areas in which the person who would be wise and good must be trained. The first has to do with desires and aversions — that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into what repels them. The second has to do with impulses to act and not to act — and more broadly, with duty — that a person may act deliberately for good reasons and not carelessly. The third has to do with freedom from deception and composure and the whole area of judgment, the assent our mind gives to its perceptions. Of these areas, the chief and most urgent is the first which has to do with the passions, for strong emotions arise only when we fail in our desires and aversions.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.2.1-3a
I’ve made it to about day sixty in treatment. Life is getting better with each day.
Well… that isn’t entirely accurate. I’m learning how to train my mind so that I can make each day a little bit better. I’m regularly amazed by how well philosophy, particularly stoicism, lines up with modern therapies. My schedule for today is:
Seeking Healthy Relationships
Anxiety Management
Healthy Relationships in Middle to Late Adulthood
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Healthy Challenge Training
Notice how each of these group therapy classes line up with Epictetus’s outline for training the mind. The two relationship classes will aid me in refining my desires and aversions as they relate to other people. Anxiety Management, DBT, and a Healthy Challenge workout focus on how I can “act deliberately” in my daily life. All of the classes incorporate the principle of non-judgment, and facing the facts of the situation without coloring in the situation with emotional perspectives. No, this doesn’t mean that I’m learning how to be an emotionless zombie. More like I’m training to experience my emotions when it is healthy to do so, and use my rational faculties when it would be in the best interest of my wellbeing.
As Ryan Holiday, author of The Daily Stoic writes: “Our judgment affects what we desire, our desires affect how we act, just as our judgment determines how we act. But we can’t just expect this to happen. We must put real thought and energy into each area of our lives. If we do, we’ll find real clarity and success.”
My ongoing attempt throughout treatment is to approach each moment in my day with deliberate attention and care for how I perceive events that occur. Not everything will be pleasant. The sun will not shine on every day. There will be disappointments. I could wallow in the unfairness of having to live with things I don’t particularly like, or I could find ways to improve the moment or to alter my perception of it. This is why I made my morning as pleasant as possible by:
Awake to my audible alarm, my sun lamp, and my blue light lamp.
Play music.
Play with cat (conveniently Holi was on my chest already).
Brew coffee with my French Press.
Read The Daily Stoic while drinking coffee (inspired this post).
Listen to Bruce Springsteen while getting dressed.
Listen to a few speeches from Skepticon while driving.
You may have noticed that breakfast is not on my list. My psychiatrist encouraged me to get back into intermittent fasting. Apparently, there is research showing statistically significant improvement in mental health for depressives that follow a 16/8 fasting plan. That means only eating for an 8 hour period through the day. I picked eating my first meal at 12 and committing to not eating after 8pm. I don’t know enough about the research to confirm what my doctor said, and I’ll be looking into some studies for a future post on my experiences with intermittent fasting. What I especially like about intermittent fasting is that it provides me the opportunity to follow Epictetus’s second recommendation — to act and not act deliberately; to be more careful with regulating my impulses.
Now, you don’t have to intermittent fast or become a practicing stoic, but I would highly recommend that you consider how you move about your day. Do you feel overwhelmed? What can you reduce? Do you feel anxious? What would help you be more calm? Are you depressed? What can you do to improve the current moment?
Whatever it is that you choose, do it! If I’ve learned anything it’s that life is too short to wallow in misery, and one can always find a way to make any moment a little bit better.
