[00:01] Welcome to the Focus B Show, where Katie, Stoddart high performance coach, interviews experts around the world in performance and mindfulness. Now, here's your host. Katie.
[00:34] Welcome to a brand new episode of the Focus B show. Today's topic is around Stoicism, and more particularly, around the four virtues of Stoicism. Recently, Stoicism has really taken off. There are so many articles out there. There are new books by Ryan Holiday. Courage is Calling, the obstacle is the Way, stillness is the Key. All of these books and articles are out there because Stoicism can really help us to lead more fulfilled and more balanced lives. The Four Virtues is one of the concepts of the Stoics, and it can be a guide for us. It can help us to evaluate our decisions, the way we function, the way we think. And we can use these as pillars in our daily life. The Stoics did, and so can we. I find it hugely inspirational to have these four keywords. And what's even more interesting is as I was working on my own keywords of importance, they were very similar in many ways. For instance, courage was one of the ones that came up, and this is also one of the Stoics virtues. The concept behind Stoicism, there are many concepts. One of the golden lines, the gold thread behind Stoicism, is to look at what we can control and focus on that and accept the things out of our control. This is called the Stoic dichotomy of control. And this is really essential because this is where all our power lies. Our power lies in managing our thoughts, our emotions and our actions, and not in blaming victimizing the outside world. So this is a common thought pattern, common action way of thinking within Stoicism. Now, let's look at the four Virtues. The first virtue that I would like to discuss is temperance, also known as self control. And the idea here is to not have anything in excess or lacking and to really find that nice balance. And balance is also a very popular theme nowadays for so many obvious reasons, but mostly because we lead lives that are out of balance, both in terms of our work or maybe our personal life. And so temperance is linked to self control and to managing things with self discipline so that we're able to maintain this balance. Because when we indulge, when we have excesses, we're losing the self control and self discipline. And this also means that as a consequence, we don't have temperance and we don't have balance. So these are directly related. And in order to improve our self control or our self discipline, we need to be very clear on our aspirations, on our goals, and know how we want to lead our lives daily. So having this as a virtue, temperance, self control, can really help us to guide ourselves, lead ourselves to live more fulfilled, balanced and happier lives. So this is really fundamental and I look at my grandmother, for example, who's 99 years old at the moment where I'm recording this, and she is an example of temperance. She never eats in excess or undereats. It was always everything in moderation, the keyword would be moderation, and she made it to 99th, though I think temperance is pretty **** good. The second virtue we'd like to talk about is courage. And courage doesn't just mean courage in terms of the way we act, but it also means in the way we speak, speaking up for ourselves. But then it is also linked to the actions we take, doing things out of our comfort zone, daring to stand up to our principles, to hold onto our principles even in moments that are challenging or tempting. All this requires courage. It can be courageous to stand up to peer pressure when they want you to take drugs or drink and you don't want to do these things and you want to hold to your principles. And then it can be courageous to stand up for this. And in this case, you're speaking up for yourself and for your principles. It's also courageous to put your values higher than maybe what society wants. So you might have a very strong value of family and want to work a lot less hours, but be in a company that really values long working hours. And then standing up for your value of family and taking more rest time would also be an example of courage. And the list goes on. So really being clear on what courage means to you, how you could have more courage, what would help you to feel more courageous and what would you like to use it for? Would it be to stand up facing an injustice? Would it be to speak up for your principles, being clear on what courage would look like in your life? The third value is justice. And this was Mathus aurelius'favorite one, and it is also fundamental, and it is linked to the idea of sympathia, which is a stoic concept. And the concept really is that what we do affects the whole, and what affects the whole affects us. What the saying goes, what hurts the hive hurts the bee I e. Whatever actions you take, if they are linked to negative consequences for the planet, for your company, for whatever it is that's on a global scale, then it will also hurt you. So I feel that the idea of justice here isn't just what is fair, although this is also important, but it's also in terms of taking actions that are aligned with the greater good. It's not about only focusing on our own benefits, but also looking at what can impact the whole and what can make things better. So this is also a really interesting one that I think sometimes maybe we forget the link between our own actions, our own words, how they affect the relationship. In the case of a couple, the group of friends, the company, the planet, and how all of this is connected. And this is the concept of sympathy. And the last virtue is wisdom. Now, wisdom is a big word, and I often imagine a very old person that is very wise and knows everything through experience. But really, wisdom comes down to applied philosophy. So all of these wonderful terms, the four Virtues, the dichotomy of control, the inner citadel, which is another Stoic concept, all of these only matter if we apply them because you can know a lot intellectually. But if on a daily basis, when something happens, you don't have this in mind, and you go back to defaulting to a more reactive way. For example, if someone shouts at you and you just shout back, then you're just reacting and you're not keeping in mind maybe courage, the courage to stand still, to not react, to remember what's in your control. I wouldn't be this interested in Stoicism if it was just nice words and concepts and intellectual, what's wonderful about it is how we can actually apply it, that so many of these concepts, these four virtues, can be applied in our daily lives. Every second, almost, I feel, or every 2nd second of the day, so many moments arise where if we remember that gap between stimuli and response, which is what Viktor Frankl talks about in his book Man's Search for Meaning. So that gap between when something happens and how we respond, if we remember that on the moment, then we have the power to change the outcome. In the example of the man shouting to you, you have a gap between when you hear the shout and when you answer back. And if that gap is big, and if you remember in this moment the Four Virtues, what's in your control, then you can choose how you respond. And you might still want to choose to respond back and shout. But you need to look at, does this follow justice, sympathy, how you react affects the whole does it follow courage to stand up to your principle, maybe, of being kind and balanced? This is really the magic of Stoicism, that we can use this in the way we respond every single day to so many different stimuli, so many different actions that happen around us and that require our attention. So getting into the habit of keeping them in mind, that's the key, keeping them in mind. I have them written on a note, on a piece of paper, the Four Virtues. But you can write other things. You can keep them as a background on your phone. So really keeping them in mind for your decisions. And throughout the day, when something comes up, looking at your four Virtues, looking at Stoicism, thinking what's in your control, what's not in your control, and using this for you to feel good and for the greater good. So the brief recap, the Four Virtues, of Stoicisms are temperance, also self control, courage, justice, also known as sympathy and wisdom. I hope you've enjoyed today's video on the Four Virtues of Stoicism or you've enjoyed the audio version. If you're listening to it on the podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please let me know in the comments what you think, how you feel about Stoicism and The Four Virtues, or in general, if you use this to help you to guide your life and to be more fulfilled and balance. Thanks for tuning in. Please subscribe to my channel and leave a comment or a review and share this video or this audio with a friend or family member that you think could enjoy it. Thank you so much. You.
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