Having inner peace is certainly one of the greatest feelings to ever feel in times like this. As the world crumbles upon our feet, one certainly thinks about the possibilities in the world of uncertainty. But how does someone achieve inner peace?
In a stoic sense, one principle in maintaining inner peace is understanding the principle of the dichotomy of control. It means understanding what the things we are able to control are and what we can’t. Generally speaking, our emotions and perspectives are the ones we can control and other people’s emotions and perspectives are the things that cannot be controlled. The principle is easy to think about in theory, but I don’t know how many times I’ve felt people let their emotions get ahead of themselves, because they didn’t thought of the situation through.
Does this mean we have to suppress our emotions? No, being a stoic does not mean we have to be narcissistic about it or dismissive about our emotions or other emotions; far from it, in fact. We have to be as empathic now more than ever. Especially in dire time such as what a lot of us experience right now, we can’t afford to be narcissistic about what others feel and neglectful of our feelings and behavior. We have to understand the difference of ignoring things that we have no business being in and things that we have power over, and reading relevant books is one of the steps in knowing the difference of the two.
If you can’t handle what you feel right now, you can always talk with your friends
If you think you are having an anxiety or depression, feel free to consult a specialist near you.
In the end, the emotions we feel now definitely affects your perspective and approach towards things you have right now; and finding a filler towards tranquility is a difficult thing to do, especially if the mind is cloudy and disoriented. Our feelings matter, and you matter. Feel free to contact your friends, even if you are only checking in on them because every small action creates the biggest impacts.
This is part 1 of the 5 Part Passages of my Thoughts in living a happy and productive life