Be Grateful for Everything—Even the Tough Stuff

Something happened that we wish had not. Which of these is easiest to change: our opinion or the event that is past? The answer is obvious. Accept what happened and change your wish that it had not happened. Stoicism calls this the “art of acquiescence”—to accept rather than fight every little thing. And the most practiced Stoics take it a step fur

As the Stoics commanded themselves: Cheerfulness in all situations, especially the bad ones.

“I may wish to be free from torture, but if the time comes for me to endure it, I’ll wish to bear it courageously with bravery and honor. Wouldn’t I prefer not to fall into war? But if war does befall me, I’ll wish to carry nobly the wounds, starvation, and other necessities of war. Neither am I so crazy as to desire illness, but if I must suffer i

The most important thing is to direct gratitude toward the experiences we are having at any particular moment.

GRATITUDE The standard habit of the mind is to take careful note of what’s not right in our lives and obsess about all that is missing. But in a new mood, perhaps after a lot of longing and turmoil, we pause and notice some of what has – remarkably – not gone wrong. The house is looking beautiful at the moment. We’re in pretty good health, all thin

Gratitude and acceptance might not look like they have much to do with combatting anxiety, but the mindset that accompanies gratitude can be thought of as a direct antidote to this negativity bias, because it forces us to dwell on and appreciate good things we usually ignore in favor of focusing on the bad.