[Stoic Meditation] Only Bad Dreams

For today's meditation, the Stoics remind us that most of our worries aren't even real. More often than not, we "imagine" them. We "create" scenarios based on our fears and anxieties. We dread the worst and therefore, we live through a nightmare that we created ourselves.

As humans, we are generally ambitious and there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone wants a nice life (but of course, the definition of this is subjective) and it's frustrating if we are unable to attain it. With this in mind, we try to chase a lot of things associated with our interpretation of a "nice life" and it's not easy. More often than not, these things--a high paying job, an expensive house, an eco-friendly car, an outstanding education, a happy and lasting relationship, etc.-- are difficult to get. Aside from the actual physical hard work that we put on our dreams, there is another aspect that plays behind the scene. The strength and durability of our mentality is being tested. Actually, even before doing the physical work, we first and foremost put ourselves under a lot of stress and rigorous self-depracation. We call ourselves out, we tell ourselves that it's impossible because we are not good enough, we imagine all possible negative scenarios that we can think of. With fear and nervousness around the corner, we are helpless.

But then again, what if it works out? What if that very thing that you truly wanted is just at the grasp of your hand and you just have to go with it? What if the things that can go wrong in your mind is just gonna stay, well, in your mind? Just mere fabrications of our presumptuos self.

I often find myself in this situation: I love to scare myself with my imaginations. I find myself provoked by my thoughts and I beat myself up for it, sometimes other people around me too (eg. my lovely boyfriend who gets the short end of the stick when I watch cheating soaps online) which is not a good thing. I play scenarios in my head, always getting ahead of myself, without even thinking if it makes sense. Just like what the meditation pointed out, when we have a dream, whether it's good or bad, do we question if it makes sense? Of course not! We just wake up, think about how weird it is, and just go with our day. 

I know that situations in our life are not comparable to dreams but is there something that we can do with things that we can't even control the outcome of? The answer is of course none. BUT, there's one thing that we can control: our reactions. We should carry emotions with dignity and strength. Let nothing shakes you even if life is scary.

I'm going to close this post with words from Seneca, "There is nothing so certain in our fears that's not yet more certain in the fact that most of what we dread comes to nothing." Just keep on going and don't let things that has never happened affects you.