Hello and welcome to Navigate the day.Today is January 11th, 2023. The theme for this month is Clarity. And that's part of the discipline of perception.Our main theme for the day is if you want to be unsteady. I'll go ahead and jump into this excerpt now. For a person's shifts. For if a person shifts their caution to their own reasoned choices.And the acts of those choices they will at the same time gain the will to avoid.
But if they shift their caution away from their own reasoned choices to things not under their control? Seeking to avoid what is controlled by others.They will then be agitated.Fearful and unstable. Epictetus Discourses 2.1 dot 12. The journal prompt for today. Is what are sources of of unsteadiness in my life. Unsteadiness in general results from losing sight of the difference between what's in your control and what's not.
So what causes me to lose sight of what is or isn't within my governance? Unfortunately, I think there is a lot. Work, finances.But I also after reflecting on this for a while.Know that my environment is the biggest distraction.I can't really blame my environment for my emotions though. This kind of leaves me at square 1, so I need to get a grasp on what a sort of source of unsteadiness looks like. My first thoughts on this were very focused on outside factors.
But that is opposite to what this prompt is meant to bring out of me, in my opinion at least.All unsteadiness comes from within. Environment does not determine my levels of calm, stability, or serenity. These, instead, are directly related to my judgment and reasoned choices. I say that, and it's still a hard pill to swallow.If we can't find peace from outside sources.We are completely responsible for our happiness
and distress alike.Even as I type this, I feel frightened about the notion from studying emotions and philosophy philosophies. As I am, I'm learning to see this as OK. And somewhat empowering in truth. This also means that I have been responsible for the difficulties, unsteadiness and unrest in my life for the last roughly 10 years. And that is kind of a heavy burden.I put myself in those around me through a lot.
I've spent a lot of time trying to avoid adverse effects out of my control and by doing so cost myself steadiness. As I move forward, I will be making a concerted effort to avoid harmful and disruptive judgments that cause me more trouble rather than the original disruptions to my stillness. Thus giving me a better chance of achieving achieving stillness in the first place.I think this means letting go of quite a bit.
I need to let myself be free from what others do, how they interact with me, stressors in my life and in external events outside of my control, including birthplace and my circumstances.I get to choose steadiness in my filtering of exterior forces and how I perceive them. As long as I'm zeroed in on what's within my sphere of choice.I will continue to get better at dealing with
life's ups and downs.I'm confident that by putting my best foot forward and persisting on this path of growth and learning that things can only get better. I am choosing to take my life back into my hands.By regulating how I handle myself.Because that alone has an impact on my environment. Which to me is much more powerful and beneficial than my environment impacting me. That's all I've got for you, for you today.Thank you for taking the time to listen to me ramble.Stay safe
and until next time. I wish you the best and know you can handle the worst.Peace and love, friend. 2023.