Who Has a Control in Your Life and Why?
You do you, this has been a practice that I had been following since my teens. I was always consumed with impulses and actions back then but after toning down and realizing some of the actions that I did little by little I was able to manage somehow things in life that I have control over. It was a tough choice back then, I do not understand how to explain it to others so I just simply explain that "I just don't care at all" which is true.
Now after some time wondering and researching about it and as I have shared in my blog somehow I realized that I am practicing Stoicism.
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason (logos) - Wikipedia
As I learn more about this philosophy, the more that I knew that I know less. I had the idea back that I am just embodying the persona of Ferb in the series Phineas and Ferb.
Right now, I am doing the The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living and I am on the month of January.
If you wonder to why I am starting with January, rather than May the reason is quite obvious. I just started this book and a better way to enjoy the process is instead of jumping on the middle part start with the beginning meditation.
The first part of the book is Discipline and Perception and January focuses on the keyword, Clarity.
Clarity - the quality or state of being clear - merriam-webster
One of the key takeaways that I had with the session was the idea of differentiating the things that we can control and the things that we cannot control. Also what we can have influence and what we do not have.
Why it is important to know the things that we can and cannot control?
Let's give a short example as a reference. Heavy traffic in Metro Manila, is it something that we can control or we cannot control?
If you answer, we cannot control we are in the same page. But if you answered we can can explain why such?
Going back to our example we will be using it again in a scenario about understanding our control.
You will have a meeting at around 10:00 AM ( whatever timezone that you are ) now, you knew that traffic jams exist in the road that you will take and probably will take you an hour or two just to reach the destination. Are you going to leave home early and a lot more than two hours of your time or just go with the flow and hope that you will arrive on time?
Aside from the traffic we have other external factors such as accidents along the way, jeepneys stopping and waiting for other passengers in every corner etc.
Do you get my point there?
By understanding such you can make informed decisions in life. This time I just used something easy but what about a grand plan?
You can also apply this philosophy.
Example: Have a savings of $1,000.00
Is it controllable or not?
This example applies to both can be and cannot be controlled. But this time I will say that it can. Simply because this is an inspirational blog post!
So how can we have control of having savings of $1,000.00?
Buy only the stuff that you NEED don't be enticed to the mall sales 1/1, 2/2, 3/3 etc.
Do not let other people know that you have spare money - they will ask you to lend them some.
HUSTLE and Work Smart.
Look for other side gigs in your free time.
And so on and so forth.
By following such, you will notice an increase of savings along the way.
You cannot undo the choices that you did before but you can always change the outcome of your future. Do not be slump in the present situation that you are in MOVE! and MOVE FORWARD.
If we can focus on the things that we can have control of within our day we will have an edge to the people who are still figuring out what to do in their life.
Personal focus:
What are the things that you think you can control of right now within your day that can make some changes in the future?
You can also find this devotional on this link Control and Choice
