2021: TAGORE'S YEAR OF RESURRECTION ( 20 m )

Tagore · May 9, 2021, 1:58am

THE BIG THREE (Stoic lesson 4)

“All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment;
action for the common good in the present moment;
and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.6

i.e. Control your perceptions.
Direct your actions properly.
Willingly accept what’s outside your control.

Did you notice something peculiar in this quote of Marcus Aurelius. Yes, HE STRESSES A LOT ON THE PRESENT MOMENT.

Certainty of judgement or control of perception should be in the PRESENT MOMENT. Action for the common good and must be rightly directed in the PRESENT MOMENT. An attitude of gratitude for anything that comes your way in the PRESENT MOMENT.

So, presence of mind is the most important tool we have in living a good life. Every thing else comes after that; whatever you claim you have, they all will become irrelevant if you are not mindful and staying in the present. Our mind always have this habit of moving from past to future and vice-verce like a pendulum but real strength comes when the pendulum is fixed at the center, when your mind is calm and seeking joy from within itself.

Yeah, we all know, in this world of constant distractions, mindfulness is one of the hardest thing to achieve. But it is the only way; to squeeze every drop of the power of each neurons in our brain, to take our perception to a higher plane and to do miracles using the power of our subconscious mind mindfulness is a must!

So, from now on I’ll carefully look at everything I read, think, experience and learn. I’ll put it into my mind, calculate whether it is in alignment with my perception of truth. Then I’ll decide whether to take it or leave based on the answer I reach.

Self control is everything. Yes, as Aristotle pointed out, try to stay as close to the mean as possible. Don’t over indulge in sensual pleasure or don’t become an ascetic. You only have this one life; engage in things with a calm and clear mind with clarity and right perception. Don’t let anything in this world to take you away from living a meaningful, authentic and purposeful life. You are here for a reason; focus on eat; death is certain, remember the galaxies and millions of planets in it and LIVE YOUR LIFE. As Seneca said (just paraphrasing): 'It requires great strength, to stay away from sensual pleasures and the meaningless pursuits of the masses but it requires the greatest of strengths to indulge in it with moderation".

However we try or desire somethings are outside of our control. Covid-19 is eating the lives of millions around us, even some of our closed ones are leaving us, a girl that you love may not care about you, you may not be famous or filthy rich or the greatest looking boy in the neighborhood. But, reasonably, what is the use of focusing on those things which are out of your control. It’ll only waste our most important mental energy and time which is very limited!

So instead we can all mindfully focus on the things we can control, achieve and change. We can focus on our purpose in life and become a successful man, we can gain wisdom and sharpen our axe to win this battle of life, we can do charity or help people in need, we can spend time in nature or in having a meaningful conversation with an authentic friend. These are all thing 100% in our control. Lets focus on it.

Lets fortify our mind, body, life and spirit by directing our focus to the right direction, for the right cause and with right intensity.

Peace

Tagore · May 9, 2021, 2:12am

Yes bro, Stoic philosophy has very strong base and is very practical, especially helpful in this distracted and stressful world. In fact, it was created to survive any hard times in life. Look at Marcus Aurilius; he was the emperor of Rome for 9 years and everyday he had to face to stressful and nerve wrecking events. It was Stoic philosophy that helped him. Just like Buddhism, Taoism etc Stoic philosophy gaurantees real peace and clarity in perception. Please do read and think about it before accepting the concepts. It is helping me a lot.
This is also a great book, on the topic; two of the most famous book on amazon right now are this and Daily Stoic. There are hundreds of rereading and writings happening on it because stoic philosophy is very helpful in modern times and offcourse in gaining control over addictions too.

Bro @The_integrous_one , but if you want to really grasp the ideas of stoics we have to dig into the original writing of marcus Aurilius, Seneca and Epictetus. Their books Meditation, Letters of Seneca and Discourses are the most important ones, in my understanding.

The_integrous_one · May 9, 2021, 6:30am

Ok bro I’ll look into them later on in life, Now a days I just manage around 15-20 minutes of reading self help books along with my routine and studies, so I’ll be sticking with the daily stoic for now . I have just started this daily reading habit about 2 months ago and I was able to finish just one 190 page book in 2 months .

anon65589122 · May 9, 2021, 9:51am

Agree with you. We can learn lot of things from stoic philosophy, Buddhism, Taoism. I find commonality between these three. These are timeless philosophies which will never get old.

I have already read the Meditation and Letters By Seneca but I feel I should read it multiple times. Because i forgot most of the stuffs.

Also Stoic philosophy helps us to develop the real character as a Man.

Tagore · May 10, 2021, 4:43pm

100%
In fact, the perfection of a stoic is when he is able to stay calm and cool when any kind of destruction happens in life. ‘Indifference’ is the key word. But there is much more to it.
A lot to learn bro. I am also focusing on Epicureanism which was also famous in Greek at the time (3rd - 2nd century BC). this philosophy has a huge eastern shadow. Their basic idea is give up all the unnecessary baggage we carry in name of pleasure such as fame, lust, sense pleasure etc.
Live a simple life. A life of sense pleasures = life of pain.
A happy life is a life without pain, anxiety, fear etc
So choose a simple life by following the basic necessities of life. Give up everything else. I am moved by this philosophy of Epicurus.

You do read a lot too bro. Happy to find a man with similar interests. What is your age? You speak like a mature man. Keep going; you are born for greatness.

Tagore · May 10, 2021, 4:55pm

May 10

Make my bed
Deep work (1 hour)
Yoga at 7:30 am:
Sookshma Vyayam, Soorya namaskar,
asanas: Sirshasana, sarvangasan, matyasana, siddhasan
Om Chanting
Pranayam- bhastrika, Kapalbanti, agnisar, shithali, anulom vilom, bhramri
Jalandhar bandh
Uddhiyana bandh
Meditation (15 mins)
Shavasan
Stoic lesson (5)
Journal
Cold shower
Vajrasana after lunch
Reading (Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
Pray in the evening + Gitanjali
No TV
No phone
No junk food
Evening Meditation (10 mins)
Plan for tomorrow
Sleep before 11

Wake up (6 am)
Mindful eating + Mitahara

Work: 5 hours. (Today you won bro @_TIGER . I was distracted and had slept in the afternoon. Lets see tomorrow!)

The_integrous_one · May 10, 2021, 6:54pm

One question brothers @Tagore @anon13059885 should I start the daily stoic from 11th may (today) page or should I start reading from the beginning only?

anon13059885 · May 11, 2021, 5:15am

@The_integrous_one it doesn’t matter, as it’s not a “story” that builds up or anything. I’d suggest you simply start today with the day you are expected to read. It’s one page per day or something. Then keep the consistency, just start of your day with reading.

The_integrous_one · May 11, 2021, 9:55am

Ok bro, still I have started from the beginning only, I’ll read one page daily, I have made a habit of reading 15-20 minutes in the morning everyday, so it won’t be a problem to stay consistent. Thanks @anon13059885 .

anon65589122 · May 11, 2021, 7:00pm

Yes true bro. That’s the real strength when you’re calm in adversity. And sooner or later life will taste us with this situation. The more strength we develop the more severe test we will face from life. Equanimity is the word used in Buddhist traditions for this. We remain equanmious with all situations.

I agree with this. Comfort life make us weak. Buddha suggested to sleep in hard mattress rather than on comfortable cushion. That’s why Spartans used to send their soldiers to the forest to survive in the wilderness. We most of the modern men are weak.

Yes but one major difference between Buddhism and Greek Philosophy is that in Buddhism all the truth the Buddha spoke we have to experience ourselves before we accept it. I mean these can be known if have the self awareness at the level where we can control our flow of thoughts. I am not there so can’t say much.

Yeah man I am happy too. Not lot of people talk about Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche. I am 26 will turn 27 in few months now. Yeah man I am born for greatness. I had been the in the flow but due to my own stupidity i strayed from path and wasted lot of precious time but I won’t do that again.

Man you can also check out books by Herman Hesse. He won Nobel prize in literature. His one book Siddhartha is very popular. His other books The Glass Bead Game and Steppenwolf are also great.

vicky81 · May 12, 2021, 4:28am

Perhaps u r talking about Daily Stoic channel on Telegram.

The_integrous_one · May 12, 2021, 8:06am

No bro I was talking about the book ‘the daily stoic’.

Tagore · May 16, 2021, 6:51am

Bro @anon65589122 are you a Buddhist?
Yes, nowhere in this world can we find a figure like Buddha. I believe, I may convert into Buddhist religion and will live in a monastery for 6-12 months for totally purifying my mind, body and spirit.

Same thing happened to me bro. I don’t belong here. During this time, I should be living my life as a writer; creating great stories, living a life of greatness and passion. But now, what is the condition. But even this addiction can be a blessing in disguise bro (only if we conquer it at this age itself). We will be disciplined till the end of our life because loosing self discipline equals going back to addiction. We can change our attitude and see everything from the right perspective.
A lot of great men had different addictions- Dostyovsky had gambling addiction (how many hours and days he spent gambling! (but it helped him in writing; even he wrote a book called gambler), greatest short story writer in the world Allen Poe was a extreme alchohol addict- died at age 40 in the street being drunk, Martin Scorsese- one of the greatest film maker was a cocaine addict- at one point in his life he forgot everything and spent days and months using cocaine, then his friend and great actor- Robert Deniero saved him and took him back to life.
But yeah, if we conquer this addiction now itself and not allow it to conquer our precious coming days and months it can be considered as a lesson and it can also motivate us to be disciplined till the end

I have read Siddhartha bro. I had goosebumps and I my mind was on another plane when I read the chapter in which Buddha comes in that book. While writing that chapter Hesse was on a god-like state as a writer. Such perfectly he wrote about Buddha, his movements, his actions, composure etc. Those images will never leave my mind. Even as I got to the end of that book, I was in another world. I consider it as a holy book; I’ll read and will reread it. There is a lot more to understand and learn from it.
The other two books I haven’t read but surely will read it. Thanks for suggesting it brother

Hardmode123 · May 16, 2021, 7:10am

Paste that thing here also bro @MADTAKER

Tagore · May 16, 2021, 7:14am

I relapsed brothers.
Yes, it really is very hard to come here and say that shit went wrong. But I was extremely stressed due to exams, due to lockdown relationship with friends and family were going astray, not being disciplined; it all reached a peak point and everything happened unconsciously.
Not unconsciously. The fact is I fucked up.
But I consider this as another lesson. Now I know one more way pmo traps us and how to avoid it. After all, experience had taught me that putting myself down will only help in increasing the wound. I will look at the 125 days (4 months) in which I was sober and made great improvements.
I’ll come back stronger!
Only with our accountability and brotherhood that I was able to reach this far; next goal is 180 days.
This is an ongoing process and I’ll become the god of my life. Nothing in this world; pmo or whatever the fuck can never hold me back! Fuck the victim mentality. We are all born for greatness brothers!
I locked my fucking phone, locked its settings, changed the device admin, locked the fucking playstore and gave the password to mother. Now, how am I going to relapse again?
No more relapse! Only chasing the deamon and beating them down the road till they die.

BEASTMODE

Dean_Ambrose · May 16, 2021, 7:18am

Oh man , I can’t tell you how much bad I’m feeling … Watch out for the Chaser effect . You can do it again , you made 100+ days streak 2 times . You are the Real Beast …

anon65589122 · May 16, 2021, 7:23am

That is quite shocking to hear man. It was unexpected since you were full-on beast mode. You have a great routine. I will say keep being productive. Or keep being how you were. One relapse shouldn’t hinder your progress.

Tagore · May 16, 2021, 7:28am

Yes brothers. But I am very serious about this; I know how much falling into a chaser effect can destroy my brain. I will break my laptop and phone to not fall into that trap. But most of my progress are still there. One relapse cannot take away the improvements made for 125 days.
I am changing my work place into a public place, locked my phone, I’ll stay extremely productive and disciplined. Will be updating my diary daily. Going back to pmo = becoming an animal. My pg entrance is coming; I have to prepare really well to crack it. This is only a one way road brothers. Thanks for all the support; we are together in this

The_integrous_one · May 16, 2021, 8:23am

oh man. I literally couldn’t believe this, I thought I opened some old thread.
But what happened happened, please be careful next time, our goal is not to just break the previous streak and then go back, our goal is to leave this trap forever man. We are here for you, full support.
Also you’ll still have most of the benefits, the habits you built in 4 months is not going anywhere now, just follow your routine properly keeping your goals in mind .

rewire_user · May 16, 2021, 9:19am

I thought the same brother, But I believe in you bro @Tagore You will take care of it, this is the proof that You have to keep wining every single day, One defeat can cost a lot. No one can take away the benefits from you. And chaser can’t do anything to a beast. Stay Strong Buddy You haven’t lost much till now, It’s your call now You have to take care of your mindset brother. You can do it. Keep Moving forward, Fight Fight !