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...