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Stoicism for Anxiety
Anxiety lives in the future — in events we imagine but cannot control. The Stoics trained attention on what is actually in front of us and on what is actually ours to decide. Much of the worry dissolves when you separate the world from your reaction to it.
Stoic ideas for this
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.”
Epictetus · Enchiridion
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“Confine yourself to the present.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
Epictetus · Discourses
“He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and so be at peace.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
If anyone is unhappy, remember that it is because of himself alone that he is unhappy.
Epictetus · Discourses
It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and so be at peace.
Epictetus · Enchiridion
When you are faced with a problem, consider whether it is a small thing or a great thing. Most of our problems are small things.
Epictetus · Discourses
He who has learned to fear has learned to hope.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Do not be carried about by external impressions; with every impression, say: "This is an impression, not the thing itself."”
Epictetus · Enchiridion
Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“The mind which is free from passions is a citadel; no man has a stronger place of refuge.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Consider the soul; it is not disturbed by the things themselves, but by the judgments which it forms about them.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
If you would be happy, keep your desires and aversions within your power, and do not stretch them toward what is not.
Epictetus · Discourses
A tranquil mind is the first and most important possession.
Seneca · On Tranquility of Mind
“We are more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Do not imagine things are worse than they are; look at them as they are.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
The mind is the ruler of the soul, and of itself it is a calm and clear thing.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Practise then from the start to say to every harsh appearance: You are but an appearance, and not the thing you appear to be.
Epictetus · Enchiridion
Close the eye of the mind to externals, and turn it inward; there is the source of calm.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Nothing new happens; all is the same round, and the same things happen again.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Keep watch over your impressions, as a guard over a gate; not everything that approaches may enter.
Epictetus · Discourses
Live calmly in the present, and do not borrow trouble from a future that may never come.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The storm rages outside; be calm within, and the storm cannot touch you.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations
Trust your reason, not your impressions; the one is yours, the other is not.
Epictetus · Discourses
The wise man is never unprepared, because he has considered all that may come.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Put it into practice
A Stoic tool is only useful if you actually use it. Try this small loop the next time anxiety shows up:
- Name it plainly. Say what is happening without the story you are adding on top of it.
- Split what’s yours from what isn’t. Invest your energy only in the part you can actually choose.
- Do one small thing. A single deliberate action today beats a week of intending to.