Every morning I journal.
I use a gratitude journal, I write notes on the previous day and I refer to The Daily Stoic.
Today's entry of the daily stoic talks about 'stoic joy' and it reads like this:
So, what is stoic joy and how does it differ from regular old joy?
The way I like to think about it is internal vs external.
Regular joy aka chipper = external
Stoic joy aka inner peace = internal
So in another words, regular joy is derived from things going well or happening to you or around you, whereas stoic joy is a state of being... it just is.
This tweet of mine below here gives a pretty decent summation of the concept:
As far as I am concerned, this is the metric I want to be optimising for. This is the thing I care most about.
Regardless of what is happening around me - good or bad, right or wrong, rich or poor, up or down. I want to be able to check in and answer yes to these questions.
Am I at peace?
Am I full of gratitude?
If yes, carry on.
If no, locate the problem and fire some gratitude at it until the answer is yes.
Here's the catch though...
Being at peace and accepting of what is, does not mean pulling up short or accepting failure and poor performance.
No no no.
I am still expected to work hard for what I want and find ways to push myself mentally and physically to continue to evolve. It just means that my ability to be happy and joyous is not predicated on any given indicator.
Too often in life the idea of optimisation is bandied around for fitness, finance, relationships, entrepreneurship, business, education and career... but almost never for pure joy.
Stoic joy is concrete and reliable, regular joy is fleeting and unreliable.
Life is tough enough to need to rely on external events to govern our joy. Let's look within to cultivate the joy and inner peace we need to make life easier.
This is impenetrable, this is operating from a place of power.
Set some time aside tonight to reflect on the stoic joy - the joy that comes from purpose, excellence, and duty.
With gratitude,
SAV 🙏
Related Posts
