Dear Journal:
1-22-14
I wrote this post yesterday on my way home from work. Life is going swell, and things are looking bright. I feel content in my shoes and I am looking forward to the journey ahead of me. I feel like I have so much to write, yet I am stuck as to where to start, so I will start here, with the post I wrote yesterday on my way home, it starts on the next paragraph.
1-21-14
I read a book on Stoicism nearly 3 years ago that I really enjoyed. I read it on a flight on my way back from Colombia. I really enjoyed it and feel like I gained a wealth of spiritual knowledge from it. I will try to write about what I got out of it and what I understood from it. In a nut shell, stoic belief is the belief that if we always imagine the absolute worse scenario happening about a certain situation, the likelihood of that worse outcome happening is probably least likely to occur.
Let me try to explain what I mean. What I got out of the book is that stoicism ties into living in the moment, because what the teaching is referring too, is a teaching of controlling our thoughts since we cannot always have control of situations. The belief is that if we think of the absolute worse happening, if that absolute worse doesn't happen which is usually the case, then we will always or usually be happy with the outcome of the situation. We as humans tend to let our imaginations run wild with thoughts when we are faced with challenges, so because this is our very nature, instead of letting our minds control our thoughts, why not control that which we could if we really tried, that being our minds, and when faced with difficult decisions go straight to the worse scenario and let that be the point where we make decisions from. I'll try to elaborate as I know this can be a bit or a lot confusing.
For example, a few weeks ago I was really really anxious and stressed about the outcome of my final, the last final I had taken as an undergraduate student. I kept thinking that if I did not pass my final, I would be screwed in the sense that I would probably have to change a bunch of plans I had made, based on the outcome of the test. At first I was a hot mess! I messaged all my dear and true friends expressing to them my fear of this outcome, the outcome being failing the test. As my friends often do, they reassured me that I was probably over reacting and that they had full faith that I had passed (side note: THANK YOU FRIENDS!) anyway, I thought back at what I had read in the book about stoicism, and I practiced to the best of my recollection, what I could practice based on what I learned by reading the book. So I sat down and I imagined the most horrific outcome that I could, in terms of what would happen if I did fail the test. After doing so, I was able to clearly set a plan in the event that I did indeed fail. Practicing stoic belief, enabled me to calmly react to my feelings and my crazy thoughts that were scattered all over the place, and for the rest of my wait for the results of that test, I was a bit more relaxed. So, needless to say, I wasn't just happy with the outcome of my test (I passed it) I was ecstatic! Not only was I completely shocked with the grade I received (C) which I'm not proud of, but I was ecstatic that I had passed it because I thought I was going to get a (D) and that would of really screwed up my GPA which I wanted to make sure to keep above a 3.0 so that I could apply to grad school if I decided to go (I'm not sure about it yet).
Now I'm not saying that this tactic always works, or that it's a sure cure for having anxious thoughts. But as someone who spent the last four years of my life studying psychology, and am still not able to practice what I learned or work in the amazing field or sit across from someone and help them with their problems, I hope that if anyone comes across this blog, and stubbles upon this post, they will find it somehow useful. If nothing else, I hope I can provide an idea at the very least, to help calm your thoughts!
Remember..... If Jazzy can do it, so can you! (Insert smiley face here!).
I highly recommend the book, I plan on reading it again as I might have not been completely accurate as far as this post is concerned, but again, I read this book nearly 3 years ago and still use what I got out of it, as a useful tool, when I encounter difficult scenarios. Def a good read!
1-22-14
I wrote this post yesterday on my way home from work. Life is going swell, and things are looking bright. I feel content in my shoes and I am looking forward to the journey ahead of me. I feel like I have so much to write, yet I am stuck as to where to start, so I will start here, with the post I wrote yesterday on my way home, it starts on the next paragraph.
1-21-14
I read a book on Stoicism nearly 3 years ago that I really enjoyed. I read it on a flight on my way back from Colombia. I really enjoyed it and feel like I gained a wealth of spiritual knowledge from it. I will try to write about what I got out of it and what I understood from it. In a nut shell, stoic belief is the belief that if we always imagine the absolute worse scenario happening about a certain situation, the likelihood of that worse outcome happening is probably least likely to occur.
Let me try to explain what I mean. What I got out of the book is that stoicism ties into living in the moment, because what the teaching is referring too, is a teaching of controlling our thoughts since we cannot always have control of situations. The belief is that if we think of the absolute worse happening, if that absolute worse doesn't happen which is usually the case, then we will always or usually be happy with the outcome of the situation. We as humans tend to let our imaginations run wild with thoughts when we are faced with challenges, so because this is our very nature, instead of letting our minds control our thoughts, why not control that which we could if we really tried, that being our minds, and when faced with difficult decisions go straight to the worse scenario and let that be the point where we make decisions from. I'll try to elaborate as I know this can be a bit or a lot confusing.
For example, a few weeks ago I was really really anxious and stressed about the outcome of my final, the last final I had taken as an undergraduate student. I kept thinking that if I did not pass my final, I would be screwed in the sense that I would probably have to change a bunch of plans I had made, based on the outcome of the test. At first I was a hot mess! I messaged all my dear and true friends expressing to them my fear of this outcome, the outcome being failing the test. As my friends often do, they reassured me that I was probably over reacting and that they had full faith that I had passed (side note: THANK YOU FRIENDS!) anyway, I thought back at what I had read in the book about stoicism, and I practiced to the best of my recollection, what I could practice based on what I learned by reading the book. So I sat down and I imagined the most horrific outcome that I could, in terms of what would happen if I did fail the test. After doing so, I was able to clearly set a plan in the event that I did indeed fail. Practicing stoic belief, enabled me to calmly react to my feelings and my crazy thoughts that were scattered all over the place, and for the rest of my wait for the results of that test, I was a bit more relaxed. So, needless to say, I wasn't just happy with the outcome of my test (I passed it) I was ecstatic! Not only was I completely shocked with the grade I received (C) which I'm not proud of, but I was ecstatic that I had passed it because I thought I was going to get a (D) and that would of really screwed up my GPA which I wanted to make sure to keep above a 3.0 so that I could apply to grad school if I decided to go (I'm not sure about it yet).
Now I'm not saying that this tactic always works, or that it's a sure cure for having anxious thoughts. But as someone who spent the last four years of my life studying psychology, and am still not able to practice what I learned or work in the amazing field or sit across from someone and help them with their problems, I hope that if anyone comes across this blog, and stubbles upon this post, they will find it somehow useful. If nothing else, I hope I can provide an idea at the very least, to help calm your thoughts!
Remember..... If Jazzy can do it, so can you! (Insert smiley face here!).
I highly recommend the book, I plan on reading it again as I might have not been completely accurate as far as this post is concerned, but again, I read this book nearly 3 years ago and still use what I got out of it, as a useful tool, when I encounter difficult scenarios. Def a good read!
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