Summary of Stoic Practices

To give you an idea of the breadth of Stoic practice, Ive added a bullet-point list of some of the techniques found in the literature 1. Contemplation of the Sage: Imagine the ideal Sage or exemplary historical figures (Socrates, Diogenes, Cato) and ask yourself: What would he do?, or imagine being observed by them and how they would comment on your actions. 2. Contemplating the Virtues of Other People : Look for examples of virtues among your friends, family, colleagues, etc. 3. Self-Control Training: Take physical exercise to strengthen self-discipline, practice drinking just water, eat plain food, live modestly, etc. 4. Contemplating the Whole Cosmos: Imagine the whole universe as if it were one thing and yourself as part of the whole. 5. The View from Above: Picture events unfolding below as if observed from Mount Olympus or a high watchtower. 6. Objective Representation: Describe events to yourself in objective language, without rhetoric or value judgements. 7. Contemplation of Death: Contemplate your own death regularly, the deaths of loved ones and even the demise of the universe itself. 8. Premeditation of Adversity: Mentally rehearse potential losses or misfortunes and view them as indifferent (decatastrophising), also view them as natural and inevitable to remove any sense of shock or surprise. 9. The Financial Metaphor: View your actions as financial transactions and consider whether your behaviour is profitable, e.g., if you sacrifice externals but gain virtue thats profitable but, by contrast, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses himself. 10. Accepting Fate (Amor Fati): Rather than seeking for things to be as you will, rather will for things to be as they are, and your life will go smoothly and serenely. 11. Say to External Things: It is nothing to me. 12. Say Over Loved-Ones: Tomorrow you will die. 13. Cognitive Distancing: Tell yourself it is your judgement that upset you and not the thing itself. 14. Postponement: Delay responding to things that evoke passion until you have regained your composure. 15. Picture the Consequences: Imagine what will happen if you act on a desire and compare this to what will happen if you resist it. 16. Cognitive Distancing: When something upsetting happens to you, imagine how you would view the same thing if it befell someone else and say, Such things happen in life. 17. Empathy: Remember that no man does evil knowingly and when someone does what doesnt seem right, say to yourself: It seemed so to him. 18. Contemplate the Transience of all Things : When you lose something or someone say I have given it back instead of I have lost it, and view change as natural and inevitable.