What circumstances might have led you, my dear friend, to read my message?

Strong is he who rules himself

In my civilized world, there are too many goods and too few smiles. Most people are passionate about acquiring knowledge and skills that will ensure their professional development. However, it seems that their psychological insecurities keep growing. Leadership and self-awareness seminars are abundant, but people remain internally frail. 

But, who wouldn’t wish to be strong! In Ancient Greece, people greeted each other by exchanging the wish “Errōso!” (Be strong). 

What is strength, though, and how can it be achieved? Seneca, the stoic, wrote: "Strong is he who rules himself." 

Accept what cannot be changed; love it; understand it.

My dear friend, pay attention to the meaning of this phrase. Do you wish to be strong? Then start by thinking about your own self: Put yourself under a microscope and discover your structure, your capabilities, your relationships, your world. Then, accept what cannot be changed; love it; understand it. And, finally, change what needs changing, by making conscious choices, and building a new self. 

Work as a sculptor. The more skilled the artist, the more beautiful his sculpture. 

No artist, though, would be able to create something without a conceptualization of its ultimate form. And the ultimate form of your sculpture is that of the peaceful, free, happy self because only such a self can be strong. 

It is our own ideas, and wrong judgements, our thoughts and habits that create negative emotions

With your final image as a guide, start disposing of any ideology that stands in the way of your serenity or that creates mental strain. It is our own ideas, and wrong judgments, our thoughts and habits that create negative emotions. 

Be the master of your own mind. Your mind is not you. You are your mind’s driver, its true leader. 

The human mind works mechanically, subconsciously. It is in its nature to work this way: it records, it organizes and reorganizes knowledge and experiences that you provide. Yet you have learned to identify yourself with it. Learn now that you can rule your mind instead. It is a power that is not about domination, but about artistry. It is the art of living in the present of your choice. 

So choose your present and don’t let a subconscious mechanism define it for you by unearthing thoughts that create fear, pain, and insecurity and do not allow you to live in peace. 

Experience life through the taste of real food, through the sounds of nature and music, through the kiss of wind and the touch of a lover, through the smell that emerges from the wet soil, through the beauty of landscapes and human figures, through healthy judgments that make you feel free. And strengthen your will for action. 

Activate the mechanism of thought at your own time and for your own goal. It is up to each of us to be who we want to be. Childhood inevitably ends. People are cowards; they are unjust, whining, unhappy, all because they allow themselves to be. They surrender to whatever others have taught them and to what they have cultivated in themselves through habit. 

Weakness is a product of ignorance

Weakness is a product of ignorance and habit. Strength is a product of knowledge and conscious choice. 

Dare to be who you want to be. Dare to desire and to practice what you deem to be right. And do all this with logic and fairness. It is simply a matter of personal choice… 

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Christina Kourfali is a teacher of philosophy and a High School Headmaster in Greece. She is the writer of the book "Live like the Stoics: How to get self-awareness and serenity" (https://amzn.to/2zxp7pO) 

 

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