It's Just The Glasses

In his wonderful new book How To Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, historian, and Stoic Donald Robertson charts the fascinating development of Marcus as a person over the course of his life. He artfully weaves in his insight as a working psychotherapist into how we can draw from both the life and writings of Marcus to improve our own lives. In our interview with Robertson, he talked about some of the two-thousand-year-old Stoic concepts that inspired many psychological strategies practiced in the modern world. The central psychological strategy the Stoics employed, Robertson said, was what is now called cognitive distancing—summed up by what Epictetus famously said, “It’s not things that upset us but rather our opinions about things.”In practice, therapists ask clients to imagine that they’re wearing colored spectacles,If you believe the world is actually rose-tinted or dark and gloomy because of the lenses before your eyes that’s like fusing your beliefs with reality. Realizing that the world isn’t really that color – it’s just the glasses ‒ is like cognitive distancing. It’s the difference between telling yourself “Life sucks!” and “I’m just assuming that ‘life sucks.’”The Stoics knew this over two thousand years ago, though... It took therapists decades to really wrap their heads around this idea.... Marcus likes to refer to cognitive distancing as the “separation” of our judgements from external events. The goal of Stoicism is to suspend certain value judgments responsible for unhealthy passions in this way. Give this a try today. When you inevitably get frustrated with someone or something today, remember that you have the power to change the lens in which you are looking through. Anytime someone hurts our feelings or something makes us upset, we are complicit in the offense. We choose our reaction. We choose what glasses we see things through. We don’t have to let it frustrate or upset us. It’s just the glasses. P. S. Check out our full interview with Donald Robertson and check out his new book How To Think Like a Roman Emperor—it's a wonderful introduction to one of history’s greatest figures and a clear guide for those facing adversity, seeking tranquility and pursuing excellence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. It's Just the Glasses. In his wonderful new book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, cognitive behavioral psychotherapist, historian, and Stoic Donald Robertson charts the fascinating development of Marcus as a person over the

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  course of his life. He artfully weaves in his insight as a working psychotherapist into how we can draw from both the life and the writings of Marcus to improve our own lives. In our interview with Robertson, he talked about some of the 2,000-year-old Stoic concepts that inspired many psychological strategies practiced in the modern world. "The central psychological strategy the Stoics employed," Robertson said, "was what is now called cognitive distancing, summed up by what Epictetus famously said, 'It's not things that upset us, but our opinions about things.'" In practice, therapists ask clients to imagine

• 1:27Ryan Holiday?

  they're wearing colored spectacles. As Donald told us in our interview, "If you believe the world is actually rose-tinted or dark or gloomy because of the lenses before your eyes, that's like fusing your beliefs with reality. Realizing that the world isn't really that color, it's just the glasses, is like cognitive distancing. It's the difference between telling yourself, 'Life sucks,' and 'I'm just assuming that life sucks.'" The Stoics knew this over 2,000 years ago, though it took therapists decades to really wrap their heads around this idea. Marcus likes to refer to cognitive distancing as "the separation of our judgments from external events." The goal of Stoicism is to suspend

• 2:11Ryan Holiday?

  certain value judgments responsible for unhealthy passions in this way. Give this a try today. When you inevitably get frustrated with someone or something, remember that you have the power to change the lens in which you are looking through. Anytime someone hurts our feelings or makes us upset, we are complicit in that offense. We choose our reaction. We choose what glasses we see things through. We don't have to let it frustrate or upset us. It's just the glasses.

• 2:44Ryan Holiday?

  Please check out the Daily Stoic store, where we sell products that we ourselves use that are designed to take these Stoic lessons to the next level. Just go to dailystoic.com/store.