For five centuries, Stoic philosophy was one of the most powerful philosophical schools in Greece and Rome. According to this tradition, the most important question before us is which things lie within our power to change—things of which we remain slaves if we fail to change them—and which things we simply cannot change.

The Stoic person locates the struggle of life within four domains that can be changed: one's mentality and beliefs; inner motives and desires; the degree of unconsciousness in one's reactions; and one's level of awareness.

According to this view, we are completely free to continue our struggle on the ground where the capacity for change lies in our hands, while releasing what we cannot change and what lies outside our control.

This video addresses the second domain over which we should seek mastery: human desires and inner motivations.

We human beings possess a collection of feelings and desires that we have attached to other people, to the external world and to things outside ourselves, placing their control beyond our power. Instead of believing in goodness, truthfulness and truth, we believe that it is we who must change things, and for this reason we remain constantly in struggle.

Marcus Aurelius once wrote:
“You will feel serenity in your heart when you cease to give weight to what others say, think and do, and instead recognise the true importance of what you yourself think, say and do.”

Video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/iDrUpDWCq0s