/lit/ - Literature

>>9281100

Through practice and repetition; make stoic reactions to life part of your long-term memory and habits, and you will act like that all the time.

>>9281108
But reactions are natural aren't they? If someone pisses me off, I don't actively decide to get angry, I just become angry. Same thing with nervousness, I can try to calm myself down as much as possible, but my heart rate still goes up, I start sweating etc. That's why I'm not so sure if it's even possible to "become" stoic, and if it isn't just something you're born with like being a psychopat.

>>9281100
You can't never give any shits or any fucks you can simply control the fucks and shits. The amount of time and effort it takes to bring things under control may become imperceptible at some stage but you'll still be doing it you just won't realise it. that can only come from practice. Treat every uncontrolled emotion as a chance to improve.

>>9281147
Stoicism is all about feeling pissed off but not acting upon it. Regard your feelings as something that is just there, but stay observant, neutral. Imagine yourself as a birdwatcher of feelings. Makes no sense until you practiced it long enough. Clouds floating through your sky, mang. Sky stays untouched.

>>9281217
>Clouds floating through your sky, mang. Sky stays untouched.

I would say, commit yourself to a craft. There's a reason why fighters, warriors, soldiers et al have traditionally liked nondual wisdom traditions like this. It calms the mind and allows you to focus on whatever is in front of you that has to be done. Stoicism isn't for anyone else - God, a political party, your boss - it's for *you.*

Learn a skill, practice a craft, a hobby, something. All of this stuff will be an aid to the inevitable failure, frustration, shame et al that you are going to feel. Think of it like self-defense *against* the self. Stoicism is there to stop your inner tyrant for beating the shit out of you when things don't go your way.

There's no point in being Stoic unless you have something to *do.* It doesn't matter if it's training for a performance or administering the Roman empire. Find and locate what needs to be done, and then get that thing done. And there is always something that needs to get done. So identify the primary thing and set to it with reason and patience. More like a soldier, or a wrestler, than a poet.

As you do this, you will find the other stuff falls into place around you and you have your feet on the ground. That's the idea, anyways.

Thanks for responding, but I gather from that, that it really is impossible to shut off all negative feelings and the best you can do is deal with them. Kinda sucks, desu. There goes my goal of being completely apathetic to everyone and everything around me and therefore an infinitely better life.
I will take your tips to heart and see what I can do, I guess, although I can already see myself failing.

What you are describing OP (the complete absence of emotion) is depression.

>>9281328
I wish, my man. I was diagnosed with a 33.2, still I feel EXTREME hatred and contempt for mankind on a daily basis. I heard that SSRI's can actually make you apathetic (Got nearly 100 pills lying here) but that's obviously not guaranteed and the list of side effects is as big as I am tall, so I always refused to take them.

>>9281100
That's not stoicism, that's being emotionally incapacitated. Your best bet is waiting for dementia to set it.

>>9281306
I feel like being picky with you, anon. Perhaps because I am feeling some of the same things atm.

The point is not to shut off all negative feelings, but to harmonize them with "What Is." You will never be perfectly apathetic - more specifically, *ataraxic* - and have an infinitely better life. Besides, why are you so certain that being indifferent to everything would necessarily lead to that better life? You're not a stone. Indeed, you *can* take pleasure in life and in making progress within yourself.

>I can already see myself failing
What's the problem with this? There's no need to have unrealistic expectations or romantic fantasies. Anything worth doing is going to involve some measure of difficulty.

Good luck, you sexy bastard. Whatever it is that you wish to set your mind to, I believe that you can do it. You have a right to have that which it would be reasonable for anyone to have. If your desire is to make progress and become more comfortable in your own skin, doing tasks that are rewarding to you, then these things are entirely within your goals and I hope that you achieve them.

I'm in the mood to be an irritating and intractable Stoic dickbag today, so forgive me for that. But for what it's worth I hope you achieve what it is that you are looking for.