We Always Lose When We Lose Our Tempers
The Daily Stoic15 Huhti 2020

We Always Lose When We Lose Our Tempers


Something happened. You got pissed. Now two bad things have happened. That’s just a fact.

Because getting angry rarely makes things better—even if it helps you get what you thought you wanted. It taxes your heart. It causes you to be mean to other people. To “win” you had to lose your self-control.

This is not to say you should merely accept everything in life. The Stoics were not passive weaklings. It’s that they preferred persuasion, patience, and persistence to yelling. They focused on addressing root causes, not catharsis.

How much worse getting mad is than the things that caused it, Seneca said. “Anger always outlasts hurt,” he advised. “Best to take the opposite course. Would anyone think it normal to return a kick to a mule or a bite to a dog?”

So if you want to win—at life, at philosophy, at accomplishing what you have set out to accomplish—you’ll need to rein in your temper. You’ll need to figure out the opposite course, develop more than one kind of response to things you don’t like. It’s easy to get angry, but it’s more effective to remain calm and come up with solutions.

Tame your temper. Don’t make problems worse by getting angry.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jaksot(2908)

The Present Is Pleasurable Enough

The Present Is Pleasurable Enough

On one of his more arduous hunts, after days of patiently tracking (and weeks of planning before that), crawling through the dirt and enduring difficult conditions, Theodore Roosevelt finally got the ...

29 Loka 20183min

We Are So Soon Forgotten

We Are So Soon Forgotten

A few miles outside Rome, along the still-smooth stone-paved Appian Way, is a tall brick tomb that is rumored to belong to Seneca. Unfortunately, no one is certain if this rumor has any truth to it. T...

26 Loka 20183min

Time Doesn’t Make Everything Better...It Just Makes Them What They Are

Time Doesn’t Make Everything Better...It Just Makes Them What They Are

When we get dumped or we fail or we lose someone, we often hear that “Time heals all wounds” or some such remark, all of it in consolation. Obviously this is meant well, but it’s also frustrating--if ...

25 Loka 20182min

Be Severe Only With Yourself

Be Severe Only With Yourself

One of the things that separates us from other people--indeed that has been responsible for our success--is our ability to be strict and self-disciplined. Where other people are fine making excuses or...

24 Loka 20182min

We All Have The Same Nature

We All Have The Same Nature

Robert Greene’s five international bestsellers earned him descriptions like genius and master of human behavior. His newest book was just released. The Laws of Human Nature is the culmination of his l...

23 Loka 20183min

We Take The Bitter To Get To The Sweets

We Take The Bitter To Get To The Sweets

“The hunter worthy of the name always willingly takes the bitter if by so doing he can get the sweet, and gladly balances failure and success, spurning the poorer souls who know neither.”Theodore Roos...

22 Loka 20182min

How To Be A Winner and a Loser

How To Be A Winner and a Loser

Michael Lombardi is a former NFL coach, GM and front office strategist who is largely responsible for introducing Stoic philosophy to professional sports. In 2014, he read The Obstacle is the Way and ...

19 Loka 20183min

Accepting The Little Facts of Life

Accepting The Little Facts of Life

In the late 1800s, Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Big Hole Basin in Montana. The trip did not get off to a good start. Upon getting off the train, and searching for a wagon to transport t...

18 Loka 20183min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahamania
rss-seuraava-potilas
herrasmieshakkerit
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rahapuhetta
rss-20-30-40-podcast
taloudellinen-mielenrauha
rss-myynnilla-on-asiaa-kert-kenner
pomojen-suusta
rss-lahtijat
rss-karon-grilli
rss-sisalto-kuntoon
rss-draivi
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rss-vaikuttavan-opettajan-vierella
rss-inderes-femme