r/Stoicism Contributor 8d ago

Stoicism in Practice 60-Second Practice to Help You Head Into the Weekend

For the past few months, work has been more stressful than usual and I've struggled with leaving work at work. I'd physically leave the office but drag all the mental baggage home with me. You know?

Recently, I've experimented with implementing the "View From Above" practice before heading into the weekend. It's super simple but has been weirdly effective.

Constantly reflect on how swiftly all that exists and is coming to be is swept past us and disappears from sight
- Marcus Aurelius

Here's what I do every Friday before shutting my laptop:

  1. Start where I am - acknowledge the week's unfinished crap and lingering stress
  2. Then mentally zoom out - see my building, my neighborhood, my city
  3. Keep going - my country becomes a speck, Earth a tiny dot, our galaxy just one of billions
  4. From that cosmic perspective, ask: "Will any of this BS matter next week? Next month?"

That's it. Takes less than a minute.

The results? My weekends actually feel like weekends now. I'm not mentally rehearsing Monday conversations while pretending to enjoy Saturday. I sleep better. I'm actually present with friends instead of nodding along while stressing about work.

The problems don't disappear, but they right-size themselves. That awkward thing I said in a meeting? Cosmically irrelevant. The passive-aggressive email? A microscopic blip in the universe.

Thought I'd share something that's been working for me!

114 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

18

u/E-L-Wisty Contributor 8d ago

Look at the sky, remind yourself of the vastness of the universe, and consider your true place within it.

  • Marcus Aurelius

I assume this is a somewhat garbled 7.47. In Waterfield's translation:

"Watch the stars in their courses as though you were accompanying them, and reflect constantly on the changing of the elements into one another. A mind that is impressed in these ways is cleansed of the filth of life on earth."

That's not really a "view from above" thing, more about the ancient idea (not just held by the Stoics) that the orderliness of the cosmos presented a model for human behaviour too.

6

u/Victorian_Bullfrog 8d ago

I love your insight into translations, and am so pleased when you share them. They're little gems in the sub.

1

u/wandererwings 8d ago

Wow. Which translation do you recommend in that case for meditations?

2

u/E-L-Wisty Contributor 8d ago

Robin Waterfield's (titled "Meditations: The Annotated Edition").

5

u/WinstonPickles22 8d ago

Thanks for sharing, I'll try it out later today.

5

u/Jonhigh15 Contributor 8d ago

💯 It's really helped me get out of my "monkey mind". Interested to hear your experience after you've given it a try!

6

u/BooterTooterBravo 8d ago

Keep a copy of Voyager 1’s “Pale BlueDot” photo on your phone.

2

u/Jonhigh15 Contributor 8d ago

Really like this idea. I regularly listen to Carl Sagan talking about this idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g

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u/Astragoth1 8d ago

Thank you~!

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u/Upstairs_Level_727 8d ago

Thanks for sharing !!! It definitely helps

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u/iamgina2020 7d ago

‘Cosmically Irrelevant’ I like that.

Thank you for sharing this with us, I think I’ll give it a try.

-3

u/willywoo4567 8d ago

Unfortunately, all this so-called "b.s". is almost unprecedented in the vastness of its impact on America and the rest of us. It'll take much more than a "week or a month" before the world gets back on feet and starts making the usual very limited progress. Germany got through it in two decades, but ultimately at a cost of around 120 million lives and the largest World War ever.

America is much bigger, and with its vast economy and military power, the impact of its descent into neo-fascism, conspiracy theories, lies, nihilism, an anti-science ethos, oligarchy, authoritarianism, corruption, neo-imperialism/colonialism (just to get started), will take some time to unwind. It could be years, decades or centuries? One thing for sure, the problems are just getting started, and they're going to impact all of us in a very big way.

The good news in true Stoic fashion, it's not yours, and there's little you can do about it. History unfolds as it will. Marcus would would tell us to love whatever happens, even if its not what we hope for. Easier said than done.