Is every conflicted day the same?
Are people at work damaging your health?
Let's see if we can find some ...'consolation in philosophy'
Alain de Botton in his BBC series Consolations of Philosophy used London cabbies to demonstrate that the stress we bring upon ourselves in everyday life is indeed controllable. His views, based upon Seneca's philosophy, were fully explained in his text of the same name.
Seneca had served in the court of Nero; the brutal monster who had murdered members of his own family. Seneca's choice was in knowing that this wild behaviour was consistent and that what we really want in the world is in truth beyond our control - wishing will not change how things are - we must learn daily to accept reality.
His view was that by accepted reality (as it is) and not fancying how we 'wish it would be', we will not suffer ongoing disappointments in our life. Thereby reducing stress, self pity, shock and anger.
He interviewed dozens of London Cabbies and he got the same result. They were all appalled at the end of each day by the driving they had seen during that same day. Thereby, ending each day as 'stress-balls' - by achieving what they had dreaded at the start of the day; succeeding in not changing the harsh reality of London traffic.
De Botton in applying Seneca's method to this, upheld that if they had begun each day fully accepting the day is 'as it is' and not 'as they wish it would be' they would travel a lot more smoothly through the day and would be in a much fitter state by the day's end.
Are you working with a difficult person who rules your day perhaps. You can't change this - but you can learn to manage it. By accepting that person 'as they are' and not continually wishing that they would 'act differently'. See text 'working with you is killing me' Crowley/Elster.
Plenty of tips in here to help get you through your working day!
Would all this help in your daily life? See whether you can adopt a different philosophy in your working day and then benefit from it!
A SENECAN PRAEMEDITATIO
(the wise) start each day with the thought...
'Fortune gives us nothing that we can truly own
Nothing, whether public or private, is stable;
the destinies of men,
no less those of our cities
are in a whirl...
reckon on everything
expect nothing!'
