How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
Welcome to The Inner Citadel by Fox
You switch up like the seasons, That’s why you are not succeeding, Let me explain further why the Concept of thinking a certain way where our perspective becomes entirely focused on enabling the part of our brain called the ventral striatum, which the simple way of calling it is our brains “seeking system” that urges us to explore the boundaries of what we know.
This regimen will make you more aware of your thoughts.
The path of vice, or following excessive desires and irrational emotions ( unhealthy passions )
The path of virtue, or exercising self-discipline and following reason and your true values in life.
In order to achieve greatness, We have to look at things from perspective.
Perspective and Emotional Reality
Let’s start with our internal morning, We will talk about prospective meditation strategy, Allowing you to prepare for the day ahead anticipating various obstacles, Focusing on your interpersonal problems.
We do this in order to accustom ourselves to coping with them.
Here’s something I used to write down for my prospective strategy,
“ I shall meet with the ungrateful soul, A sheep’s soul, a wolfs soul, a child’s soul, I shall quickly nip pick these irrational habits in order to pursue virtue and strengthen my character by acting as a rational being“
You should edit this based off what your daily life is like, Those with internal battles detach yourself from these battles and view them as your judgments about them that really worsen them, not the actual external event.
It’s not the events that upset us It’s our judgments about them.
When it comes to pain, You should let go of your struggle against the sensation and accept it as natural and indifferent, Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take proper steps to deal with it such as medication, But you must learn to live with it without resentment or an emotional struggle.
Remind yourself that Nature has given you both the capacity to exercise courage and the endurance to rise above pain.
Focus on the notion that It will pass.
The fear of pain does more harm than the pain itself.
Rather than saying when you have a headache “ It feels like I’m dying, an elephant might as well be stamping over and over on my head” You should say “There’s a feeling of pressure around my forehead” Viewing it objectively.
Now let’s discuss the paradox of unhealthy emotions such as fear and anger actually do us more harm than the thing’s we are upset about. Likewise, Learning self-control may ultimately do us more good than obtaining all the external things we desire. The virtues of courage and moderation improve our character and our lives in general when they are exercised wisely, whereas most of the things we crave just give us fleeting pleasure.
Emotional Habituation, Where anxiety naturally wears off over time and becomes blunted through exposure to the feared situation.
Emotional Acceptance, where we gradually reduce our struggle against unpleasant feelings such as pain or anxiety, come to view them with greater indifference, adn learn to live with them-— Something that, paradoxically, often greatly alleviates emotional distress.
Cognitive Distancing, where we increasingly view thoughts and beliefs with detachment: we begin to notice that it’s not things themselves that upset us but our judgments about them.
Decatastrophizing, Where we gradually reappraise our judgments about the severity of a situation, of how awful it seems, downgrading it by going from “What if this happens? How will I cope?” to “So What if this happens?” It’s not the end of the world.
Reality testing, Where we reappraise our assumptions about a situation to make them progressively more realistic and objective, for example, reevaluating the probability of the worst-case scenario or that something bad will even happen at all.
Problem-Solving, where repeatedly reviewing an event leads us to creatively figure out a solution to some problem facing us-— perhaps like Marcus and his generals paradoxical idea of deliberately marching their legionaries into a Sarmatian ambush in order to spring a trap on the enemy.
Moving into Habits
So you should carefully evaluate your habits and desires in terms of the bigger picture : how much do these pursuits actually contribute to your long-term happiness or sense of fulfillment in life?
Stop being your average short-term thinker.
Evaluate the consequences of your habits or desires in order to select which ones to change.
Spot early warning signs so that you can nip problematic desires in the bud
Gain cognitive distance by separating your impressions from external reality.
Do something else instead of engaging in the habit.
Contemplating virtue in yourself. As we’ve just seen, Marcus says that the most important source of both “serenity and joy comes from letting go of attachment to external things and focusing on living wisely, particularly by exercising virtue.
Marcus had been frequently examining his own character and actions, perhaps posing the sort of questions a Stoic mentor might have asked. He asks himself, in different situations, “What use am i now making of my soul?’ He probed his own mind, scrutinizing the fundamental values he was taking for granted. “ Whose soul do I now have?” He would ask. “Am I behaving like a child, a tyrant, a sheep, a wolf, or am I fulfilling my true potential as a rational being? For what purpose am I currently using my mind? Am I being foolish? Am I alienated from other people? Am I letting myself be dragged off course by fear and desire? What passions are there right now in my mind? You might also ask yourself, “How’s this actually working out?”
Stoics believed above all that the wise man is consistent in both his thoughts/actions. Foolish people, by contrast, vacillate, driven by contradictory passions, which flutter from one thing to another like butterflies.
Now we would proceed to the late night routine.
You can ask yourself these three very simple questions:
What did you do badly?
What did you do well?
What could you do differently?
Extensions ---
Did you allow yourself to be ruled by irrational fears or unhealthy desires? Allowing yourself to indulge in irrational thoughts?
Did you make progress by acting wisely?
Did you omit any opportunities to exercise virtues or strength of character?
We ought not to act and speak as if we were asleep..
This regimen will make you more aware of your thoughts.
- Potential updates will happen over time on this post.
I’m not a mental expert, but a Fox that wants to help you get rich by helping you | Understand Your Brain |Our mind is like our Admin Panel, And we are the Head Admin. However other Admins exist and they can tamper with our mind depending on what we consume and these viruses that will hinder your progress. You will eventually make it for sure, However my substack will speed that process.
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