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032 Considering Wisdom
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A weekly newsletter from BobBarnardnm.com
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Thoughts on the intersection of Society/Culture, Productivity/You, and Wisdom/Knowledge.
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Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. Benjamin Franklin
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Please share this with your friends so we can encourage others to consider wisdom.
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My WEEK
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A fairly normal week except that I added a trip to the dentist and got a referral to the periodontist which is yet to be scheduled. My main activities are writing, golf, rotary, and a charitable board, and now I am officially the treasurer for the state-wide church organization. This will fill my time for the rest of the year and along with preparing for several trips between now and the end of 2023.
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Considering Wisdom.
"Happiness and freedom begin with one principle. Some things are within your control, and some are not."
**Epictetus**
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This quote raises a significant issue for those who have grown up in American society. For me, the critical question is, are happiness, success, and freedom external things we strive for and may never achieve, or are they internal?
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Epictetus quote points out that it is an internal feeling of being in control of yourself. Being in control implies that everyone can reach happiness, success, and freedom by knowing what is in our control and what is not. For example, I wanted to be a sports star, but I quickly discovered that I wasn't quick enough, didn't have enough stamina, and wasn't into bodybuilding. Therefore, Arnold Schwartznager, I was not.
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But that doesn't mean I couldn't be happy or successful. It just told me that I couldn't be a happy, successful sports star. So to reach happiness and success, I had to change internally and set another internal yardstick to measure my happiness and success.
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Epictetus says we should focus on what we can control rather than what we can't. I can control how I feel daily and react to the world and others around me. It is a waste of energy and emotional well-being to measure my happiness or success by those things I can't control. It does me no good to worry about what I can't control and only causes stress and worry that get in the way of achieving happiness, success, and freedom.
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Three Steps to help you achieve happiness, success, and freedom.
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The first step is to realize that these goals aren't achieved by wanting and acquiring more external things. No matter what the advertising agencies tell us, buying a new car every two years does nothing but keep us in debt.
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Secondly, you must recognize that you need to reflect on how you feel in your world. Then, as you interact with the world, you can learn how to identify what you can control clearly.
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Thirdly, you need to understand that your happiness, success, and freedom are solely in your hands and within you.
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Intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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Questions to ponder this week.
1. What is causing me stress this week? Why?
2. Are the stressors within my control? If not, why do I let them affect me?
3. What is causing you to worry this week?
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Activities for this week
1. Reflect on each situation that caused you to stress this week.
2. List the triggers for each.
3. Reflect on each and see if they are in your control?
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