The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. – Epictetus
良い人生を送る鍵は、あなたを高め、あなたの最も良いところを引き出す人たちだけを仲間にすることだ。- エピクテトス
Stoicism Doodle #9 – The Key Is To Keep Company Only With People Who Uplift You
Doodle Card #155 – See Both Sides Of The Equation
See both sides of the equation.
モノゴトの両面を見よう。
We believe what we want to believe.
I used to have hundreds of self-improvement & self-help books. I believed these books would help me and improve my life. That was what I wanted to believe. But in reality, buying these books might have helped the author and improved the author’s life more than they did for me. Once you got to know well about the business model of the industry, you can easily recognize that these books are just one type of cheap front-end products that lead you to expensive & profitable back-end products.
There are many good self-improvement & self-help books out there. I do not deny the value of them — especially because there are very mediocre ones as well. But if you only see one side of the equation — i.e. purchaser or consumer — your view can be easily distorted. And you might spend too much money for what you believe, which is also distorted by someone’s intention.
There is nothing that is made purely for the sake of us. Someone is making money from it.
It is always better for us to see the big picture before making a decision. It doesn’t mean that we have to be skeptical — we just have to have a broader view and see what it is. Then make conscious decisions. It will be much better than impulsive or emotional decisions.
Stoicism Doodle #8 – Don’t Sabotage Yourself
Don’t sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others. – Epictetus
他の人たちと関わるとき、知らず知らずのうちに否定的で非生産的な態度をとって、あなた自身を台無しにするな。- エピクテトス
Doodle Card #154 – Leverage Your Weakness
Leverage your weakness.
弱点を活用しよう。
When I was a kid, I was often made fun of — and sometimes bullied — because I was a big fat guy.
That experience made me very good at losing weight. I know hundreds of ways to make that happen. However, I’m not so good at maintaining my weight after losing it. My weight has widely fluctuated since early in my twenties – between 78kg (172 lbs) and 105kg (231 lbs). Currently my weight is somewhere in the middle of the range, and gradually increasing. So I have to lose weight — again.
My inability to maintain my weight leads me to keep asking myself ‘why.’ Why didn’t I do well at that time? How come I gained my weight again? It is an endless feedback loop and makes me aware that I still have a lot of things I can do.
Don’t let a small failure discourage you. Just accept it. Reflect. Learn from it. It’s a great opportunity to develop your self-awareness.
Stoicism Doodle #7 – Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. – Seneca
幸運とは、準備と機会が出会ったときに起こるもの。- セネカ