1d (edited) • Communities
Have you heard of…?
The dichotomy of control.
It’s one of the simplest ideas in philosophy, yet one of the hardest to practice.
The Stoics taught that life becomes clearer when we separate things into two categories:
Things within our control
• Our judgments
• Our actions
• Our effort
• Our values
• Our responses
Things outside our control
• Other people’s opinions
• Other people’s behaviour
• Outcomes
• Reputation
• Luck
• The past
• The future
Most suffering comes from confusing these two.
We spend enormous energy trying to control things that were never ours to control in the first place. Recently this has led to a great influx of online rage bate and trauma exploitation.
The Stoic practice is to pause and ask:
“Is this actually within my control?”
If the answer is yes → act with integrity and effort.
If the answer is no → release your grip on it.
That doesn’t mean apathy.
It means clarity.
The Stoics believed that peace comes when we invest our energy only where it truly belongs.
As Epictetus wrote:
“Some things are up to us, and some things are not.”
Simple idea.
Lifetime practice.
In the Wild Wisdom Community we examine the meditations of the great ancient stoics through the lens of nature.
If you want discuss the lessons behind being less reactive and self control. If you’re open to nature as a teacher. Please consider joining us.
Do you know one of the greatest examples of the dichotomy of control is the Great Blue Heron?
What’s one thing you’ve learned to let go of because it was never in your control?
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