Think about this last few days.\u00a0 How many items that cause you worry were out of your control?\u00a0 Notice the question is out of your control not out of your responsibility.\u00a0 It is important that we focus on what we can control and take responsibility for every outcome.\u00a0 Nothing happens to you it happens because of you.\u00a0 When we have the proper focus on things we can control more positive things will happen because of you.\u00a0 When your focus is on items you cannot control you will experience more negative outcomes.\u00a0 These are also because of you.\u00a0 Where focus goes energy flows.
\n\u201cWhat is it then to be properly educated? It is learning to apply our natural preconceptions to the right things according to Nature, and beyond that to separate the things that lie within our power from those that don\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u2014EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.22.9\u201310a
\n\u201cA degree on a wall means you\u2019re educated as much as shoes on your feet mean you\u2019re walking. It\u2019s a start, but hardly sufficient.
\nOtherwise, how could so many \u201ceducated\u201d people make unreasonable decisions? Or miss so many obvious things? Partly it\u2019s because they forget that they ought to focus only on that which lies within their power to control. A surviving fragment from the philosopher Heraclitus expresses that reality:
\n\u201cMany who have learned
\nfrom Hesiod the countless names
\nof gods and monsters
\nnever understand
\nthat night and day are one.\u201d
\nJust as you can walk plenty well without shoes, you don\u2019t need to step into a classroom to understand the basic, fundamental reality of nature and of our proper role in it. Begin with awareness and reflection. Not just once, but every single second of every single day.\u201d
\nRyan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman. \u201cThe Daily Stoic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Think about this last few days.\u00a0 How many items that cause you worry were out of your control?\u00a0 Notice the question is out of your control not out of your responsibility.\u00a0 It is important that we focus on what we can control and take responsibility for every outcome.\u00a0 Nothing happens to you it happens because …<\/p>\n