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Get Rid of Your Anger

      To the stoics, anger is a waste of time.  We get so wrapped up in our anger and whatever it was that caused it and we act and react badly.  Anger doesn't seem to stem the opinions of others, it doesn't do anything but grow and envelop everyone around it.     I have sometimes thought that anger has been beneficial to me.  I thought it spurred me on to better jobs, greater achievement, better friends and a better standing if my anger demonstrated that I stick up for myself.  But this has been the lie of my young adulthood.  Anger never did anything but anger other people, cause break-ups with friends and lovers, and make me feel awful - on some occasions, the anger and resulting regret would make me feel hopeless.         I have two master's degrees, have had a very good teaching career, helping students and making a difference.  I have three wonderful children, a wonderful daughter in law and a beautifu...

Adventures in Stoicism

     I am a teacher, a mom, and a grandmother.  The first two are absolutely thankless jobs and the latter role gives me breath and life.  I am an avid reader and I thought it curious that every time Seneca is quoted, I agreed with his premise.  I felt a real affinity for Seneca's thinking.  Gradually, I began to read books about stoicism and though my heart belongs to Seneca, I have been doing a deep dive into Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.       The philosophy is not difficult to understand - but the practice of it can be.  I find it hard to not attach feelings to things.  When my children are happy, it is a good thing and I am happy.  When everyone is in a bad mood or someone is being mean, it is a bad thing and I am unhappy.  There is a line in Hamlet which sums up a stoic teaching:  " There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so ."   So things which I've labeled bad are only...