Rank tranquility over negative emotions

I recently Blinked the book “ A Guide to the Good Life”, and the “actionable advice” from Blinkist was fantastic. It simply said: “ Rank tranquility over negative emotions “.

The book covered this in-depth, but the basic idea revolves around stoicism and your ability to keep calm when anger and anxiety won’t help to improve the situation you’re in. A great example is being stuck in traffic; you’re stuck either way, and remaining tranquil versus cursing out other drivers is a going to leave you in a better state of mind. Of course, it’s much easier to say that while sitting at a keyboard versus sitting in backed-up traffic, but it’s something to always be considering.

From the book itself, author William Irvine put it this way:

If you consider yourself a victim, you are not going to have a good life; if, however, you refuse to think of yourself as a victim-if you refuse to let your inner self be conquered by your external circumstances-you are likely to have a good life, no matter what turn your external circumstances take.

Generally speaking, stoicism is great philosophy to try to live by. Like I shared a year ago in “ React to drama with a mind like water “, it’s fantastic if you’re able to react to what needs a reaction, and remain calm and tranquil in all other situations.

I encourage you to check out Irvine’s book when you have a chance.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on December 9, 2022.