The Daily Stoic15 Okt 2019

This is How Dumb Anger Is

Seneca wrote eloquently about how absurd the need to “get even” is. No one would think to return a bite to a dog or a kick to a mule, he writes, but when someone hurts us or pisses us off, that’s exactly what we do. We smile and laugh at this clever analogy. He’s right, we think, no one would bite a dog.

Except anger actually does do stuff that dumb to us all the time—or worse! Who hasn’t thrown a television remote that wasn’t working or smacked a vending machine that took your money? Who hasn’t banged on their keyboard when it froze or kicked a child’s toy across the room after painfully stepping on it in the middle of the night? Who hasn’t shouted obscenities at their headphones when your hand gets caught in the cord and you accidentally rip them off your head while walking through an airport or getting into a car? Who hasn’t had to resist the urge to throw their smartphone in the ocean or their golf club into a lake when these objects refuse to do what you have directed them to?

If there weren’t plenty of reasons to be suspicious of anger already, the fact that it compels you to try to physically punish inanimate objects is a pretty good one. The fact that, in anger, we often break or damage our own property—essentially punishing ourselves to send a message to something that by definition cannot receive it—tells us everything we need to know about anger.

Mainly, that it’s blinding, that it’s hard to control, and that it’s shamefully stupid.

So avoid it as much as you can.

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

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(2982)

No, This Is The Mission | Kindness Is Always The Right Response

You thought you were supposed to be doing this. You thought your job was to do that. But then what happened? Life happened. Stuff happened. Other people happened.📕 Pick up a copy of the 10th Annivers...

12 Mai 8min

It Can Change Everything | A Real-Life Example of How to Build a Coaching Tree

Great leaders don’t just build winning teams, they build people who can go on to lead without them. In today’s episode, Ryan talks about the idea of “growing a coaching tree” and what it means to crea...

11 Mai 25min

We Owe It All To Them | What Marcus Aurelius Learned From His Mother

In honor of Mother’s Day, Ryan talks with Donald Robertson about the powerful influence Marcus Aurelius’ mother had on his life and philosophy. Even though Stoicism is usually talked about as a philos...

10 Mai 13min

Rock Bottom, Recovery, and Starting Over at 40 | Jon Gustin

Jon Gustin got sober at the beginning of 2023, but as he explains in today’s episode, getting sober was not the end of the struggle. It was the beginning of finally facing everything he had spent year...

9 Mai 22min

The Stoic All the Stoics Admired

Cato’s life was his philosophy, and the Stoics never stopped looking to his example. In today’s episode, Ryan explores why Cato the Younger became one of Stoicism’s most admired figures, and what his ...

8 Mai 30min

BONUS | 6 Stoic Rules of Arete (Excellence)

Arete. To the Greeks, it meant excellence. It was the ultimate expression of human greatness—moral, physical, spiritual. It’s what the Stoics were chasing. It’s what you’re chasing today. But how do w...

7 Mai 3min

It Can’t Think About You | How to Be a Better Friend, According to the Stoics

These are impersonal forces. This is fortune and fate. It’s not targeting you. It’s not favoring or picking on you. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here ...

7 Mai 15min

You Think You Want Autonomy. You Don’t. | David Epstein

You think you want more freedom, but too much of it can work against you. In this episode, Ryan talks with David Epstein about why constraints can actually make us better. They discuss how deadlines s...

6 Mai 20min