{"id":2441,"date":"2020-11-20T14:42:12","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T14:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/?page_id=2441"},"modified":"2022-09-02T02:32:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T02:32:41","slug":"lls4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/live-like-a-stoic-week\/lls4\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 4 – Minding Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Day 4:<\/b>
Minding Impressions<\/b><\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Live Like a Stoic<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This is a two-day assignment. After completing the assigned exercises for today and tomorrow, write up a journal entry for both days tomorrow evening<\/font>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Background<\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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To the preceding pieces of advice, one more should be added: always make a definition or delineation of whatever presents itself to your mind, so that you can see distinctly what sort of thing it is when stripped down to its essence as a whole and in all its parts, and tell yourself its proper name, and the name of the elements from which it has been put together and into which it will be dissolved.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0Marcus Aurelius, <\/span>Meditations\u00a03.11<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Probably the most well known and key practice in living a Stoic life concerns our relationship with our own thoughts and judgments. Sometimes referred to as \u201cStoic mindfulness,\u201d the aim here is to impose a filter or checking system on our perception of the world. This advice applies generally for the Stoics with respect to all of our impressions: in each case, Marcus continues in the above passage, we must ask \u201cwhat this object is that presently makes an impression on me, and what it is composed of and how long in the nature of things it will persist, and what virtue is needed to respond to it, such as gentleness, courage, truthfulness, good faith, simplicity, self-sufficiency, and so on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

We find similar advice in Epictetus:<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Right now, then, make it your habit to tell every jarring thought or impression: \u201cYou are just an appearance and in no way the real thing.\u201d Next, examine it and test it by these rules that you have. First and foremost: does it involve the things up to us, or the things not up to us? And if it involves one of the things not up to us, have the following response to hand: \u201cNot my business.\u201d<\/span>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0Epictetus, <\/span>Handbook\u00a01<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Crucially for the Stoics, between the stage of receiving an impression and forming a desire or an emotion, there<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s an intermediary stage of assenting or not assenting to the impression. Our assent to an impression is typically unreflective: from the sensory impression we receive when we experience the scent of baking in the air, for example, we typically affirm the proposition \u201csomeone\u2019s baking,\u201d which can provoke certain desires and actions. The important thing according to the Stoics is that even if in most cases this affirmation is quick and implicit, it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s actually a judgment that we<\/i> bring to the impression, and so a judgment that can be made more reflective.<\/span><\/p>\n

This can make all the difference to our perception of goods and harms. For instance, from the impression of being insulted, a person may assent to the proposition \u201cI\u2019m being harmed,\u201d which can lead to feeling upset or angry. But when combined with the Stoics\u2019 view that the only thing that\u2019s good for us is what<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s naturally in our power, we should see that the opinions of others are outside of our direct control, and so address such impressions with the response: \u201cNot my business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Today's Exercise<\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Over the next two days you\u2019ll work on developing a habit of Stoic mindfulness. Whenever you can, but especially when you find yourself encountering a strong or troubling impression, carry out these steps:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Remind yourself that this is an impression that will affect you only if you give it your assent.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Evaluate the judgment that accompanies the impression: rather than labelling a situation \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d try instead to form the judgment \u201cthis has happened.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Next, ask yourself whether the impression involves things that are under your control or things not under your control.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Finally, consider your response: determine what lies within your power in converting challenges into opportunities, and if the situation is ultimately not under your control, be prepared to say \u201cnot my business.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As you engage in this exercise today and tomorrow, keep track of how monitoring your impressions affects your choices and actions.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to Live Like a Stoic Week<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Day 4:Minding Impressions Live Like a Stoic This is a two-day assignment. After completing the assigned exercises for today and tomorrow, write up a journal entry for both days tomorrow evening. Background To the preceding pieces of advice, one more should be added: always make a definition or delineation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2291,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2441","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":83,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5580,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2441\/revisions\/5580"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}