How a Stoic Mindset Can Make You Impervious to Harm

One of the most incredibly motivating and inspiring films of all time is without a doubt Rocky. Rocky is a film about people punching and hitting each other, but it has become much more than that. The Rocky theme tune is iconic and plays during pretty much any scene featuring people getting better at something. The film is adored by gym-goers all around the world and it is the ‘go to film’ for getting pumped.

 

But Rocky’s appeal lies deeper than the surface level masculinity, muscles and 80s rock. The key to Rocky’s influence lies in its message.

 

Because when Rocky goes up against and impossibly tall opponent, you know that it’s a metaphor. This is a metaphor for life and in our own lives, that opponent could be any obstacle. You know that eventually, Rocky is going to plough through that obstacle and you feel that in time, you could do the same.

 

Stoicism

 

If you watch the Rocky films more deeply, you’ll notice that they all share a few things in common. In particular, they all have Rocky in a rather bad place at the start. Rocky starts out destitute and alone and it is only by conquering these challenges that he is able to improve his lifestyle and his happiness.

 

What is this telling us? Simple: life is hard. And this is clearest in the excellent speech in Rocky Balboa ‘It ain’t about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit’.

Here, Rocky is espousing stoic wisdom. Stoicism is perhaps the most bad-ass philosophy and its central tenant is that life is hard. Bad things will happen. There’s no benefit in being blindly optimistic: all we can do is to focus on dealing with the hard times when they come.

 

By doing this, we prepare ourselves for the storms that will come and we fortify ourselves against them. We are prepared for hard times and we are psychologically ready to deal with them. And because of this: nothing can surprise us and nothing can slow us down.

 

There is honor in surviving hard times. It makes us stronger, it makes us better. So, don’t shut out the hard times: thrive in them and allow them to make you stronger. That is stoicism and that is how you can ensure that you never face a challenge that you can’t handle.

 

How to Get Amazing Results from a Diet, Using the Right Mindset

Everyone wants to lose weight but it seems that only a very small fraction of people has the ability to do that in a satisfying and effective way. 

 

So many people start diets that they never see through that it would lead you to believe that no diet is really effective.

 

But of course, this isn’t true. Of course, there are ways you can diet and be effective but the key lies more with the mindset and the approach rather than the specifics of the diet.

In this post, we’ll look at what that means.

 

The Reason Diets Fail

 

The reason diets fail is because people approach them in the wrong way. They approach diets as short-term solutions and quick fixes. The fact that people often describe themselves as being ‘on’ a diet, is really just a clue that at some point in the future, they expect to be off said diet.

 

Even when they start diets without this mindset, they often still end up quitting the diet before they get anywhere with it, simply because it isn’t properly designed to fit into their lifestyle.

 

Let’s take something like intermittent fasting, or ketogenic diets. Both of these are great diets. Both of them can be effective and actually burn through fat quickly while providing other health benefits.

 

But at the same time, these diets will also leave you with zero ‘wiggle room’. What many of the people who recommend these diets don’t realize, is just how much of a role your social life has in your diet.

 

Because eating isn’t just something we do in order to fuel and sustain ourselves – it’s something we do in social settings. Most romantic dates involve food, most meetings with friends involve food. And most evenings, you will probably share meals with your family.

 

If you sit there sipping black tea, then it’s not exactly very social!

 

Solution

 

So, the solution is not to choose the diet that will help you lose weight the fastest, but the diet that you can actually stick to. My advice? Diet at breakfast and lunch. Cut your calories at this point to such a degree that you can afford to eat more at dinner.

 

Why? Because breakfast and lunch are the most functional meals of the day. We eat them in a hurry, we eat them on our breaks. But dinner is social and dinner is when we really want to enjoy our food.

 

That’s what works for me anyway, but it’s all about finding what works for you.

 

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Physiology and Your Mood

If you want to get the most out of yourself and your life, then it is crucial that you learn to control your mood. Your mood will affect your ability to focus, your enjoyment of any and all activities and so much more.

 

But of course, controlling your emotions is easier said than done. This is something we would all like to do no doubt, but if it were that easy then we would all be happy all the time!

 

There is a secret to doing this though that many people miss. And while it may be impossible to guarantee that you’ll ever have complete control over the way you feel, it can sure make a big difference and help to give you a lot more control.

 

How Your Body Affects Your Mood

 

The missing key that so many people overlook is physiology. In other words, your body and your physical state.

 

What are our emotions for? They’re to drive us toward desirable things and to keep us away from things that could potentially harm us. When we feel scared, this motivates us to seek a safer shelter. When we feel disgusted, this prevents us from wanting to eat gone off food.

 

At a deeper level though, being hungry also impacts on your emotions and motivates behavior. When you are hungry, you will usually have low blood sugar. This in turn releases cortisol the stress hormone, along with ghrelin. This is why we get hangry! Conversely, when you eat, you produce serotonin which puts you in a good mood. This then converts to melatonin and makes us sleepy.

 

Being ill causes inflammation through pro-inflammatory cytokines and these suppress activity in the brain, creating brain fog and depression.

 

Feelings and emotions are different. You feel hungry, you feel tired and you feel ill. But these create emotions such as stress, anger and sadness.

 

The Takeaway

 

So, what are we getting at here? What is the practical takeaway from all this advice?

 

The moral is that it isn’t all about your thoughts and your lifestyle. If you’re angry or if you’re sad then it may not be due to you having a bad day – you may just be hungry or ill!

 

Then there’s the fact that our hormones tend to change on a cycle. Keep all this in mind when you are trying to manage your mood and make sure that you set yourself up with the best possible chance of a happy, positive day!

 

The Constant Fight or Flight

It is common knowledge that many people live their lives in a constant state of chronic stress. This is a serious problem because it triggers the release of negative hormones and neurotransmitters that play havoc with your health. 

 

But it actually goes deeper than that. Chronic stress means that you are constantly being pushed and thus rather than being able to stop and smell the roses, rather than being able to actually enjoy your life, you end up simply trying to survive it. Not only that, but you remain constantly reactive, constantly reacting to events and thereby unable to actually become proactive and to decide the course of your life and the direction you want to take.

 

The Problem

 

We all have different stressors that do this to us. Some of us are struggling with debt. Some of us are overworked in the office. Some of us have problems in our relationships.

 

But no matter what the problem, they all affect the body in just the same way that being chased by a lion would. As far as the body is concerned, we are in danger and it needs to produce the right hormones to increase the heartrate, to contract the muscles and to prevent energy from being spent anywhere else – whether that’s on digestion or the immune system.

 

From a psychological perspective, this means that we are simply burned out and worn out. What many of us don’t realize, is that energy is a finite resource. Many of us think that time is a finite resource but in fact, energy is much more limited. If you spend all about work and if you don’t get home until late at night, then how are you going to choose the direction you want to go? How are you going to write that great novel, workout, find time to develop your career in directions that excite you?

 

All you are doing is treading water. And burning out all of your energy, your passion and your vitality.

 

The Answer

 

So, what’s the answer?

 

Well, overly-simple though it might sound, the answer is to make the choice to focus on things that really matter to you and to stop worrying about the things that don’t. Learn to face your fears and to stop being driven by them. Learn to take the risk that’s necessary if you want to try a new career or write a book.

 

Say ‘enough’ and give yourself that break. Whatever it takes.

 

The Importance of Changing Your Mind

I started intermittent fasting last week and so far, it has been fantastic. In a short number of days, I’ve seen my abs pop like never before and strangely, the lack of food seems to afford me a ton of mental clarity that has been making me more productive in my work.

 

But this was a hard choice. You see a few years ago, my sister talked about starting the 2/5 diet – a form of intermittent fasting – and I absolutely swore against it. I was worried she was messing with her hormones and I told her it was dangerous.

 

Obviously, I’ve done a completely 180. I had to eat my words. Even as I’m not allowing myself to eat lunch…

 

But while this might not feel great, it was actually very important that I did this. It was actually after a fair amount of consideration and deliberation but making that decision meant I was able to try something that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and benefit as a result.

 

Say Goodbye to the Old You

 

This is something that many of us struggle to do however. All too often, we want to present ourselves as being reliable. We want people to ‘know where they stand’ with us. We want there to be consistency in what we do and say.

 

And we want to be somehow ‘loyal’ to the version of us from the past.

 

But the reality is that life demands change. We need to adapt, to evolve and to grow in order to become the best versions of ourselves.

 

Let’s say you always wanted to be an actor. Let’s say that that was your dream from a young age. 

 

But what if you’re now in your 30s and you don’t feel that way anymore?

 

Some people would pursue that same old goal just to remain faithful to their old selves and to demonstrate that they are people who stick to their goals and beliefs.

 

What if you have been strongly right wing your whole life and now you’re feeling a little left wing?

 

Ultimately, growth requires change. If you’re going to develop your philosophies and yourself, then you need to be willing to change. 

 

And if you limit what you ‘allow’ yourself to want and what you ‘allow’ yourself to believe, then you will end up limiting yourself and putting restrictions on what you can accomplish. Free yourself to change and grow and incredible things can happen!

 

The Mind Needs Growth

What makes you happy?

 

What is your idea of a perfect evening?

 

For many of us, the answer would be something akin to relaxing on the couch, watching a great TV show and eating something delicious. Maybe you want to stay in with your other half, or maybe you’d like to program a game.

 

These things are comfortable and they are refreshing. These things help you to feel calm and to rejuvenate from a tough week.

 

But you know what? Your brain doesn’t like those things. In fact, these are about the worst things you can possibly do as far as your body is concerned! 

 

The reason for that is simple: when you relax and when you chill, you don’t challenge your brain. The result is that it starts to atrophy.

 

Grow or Shrink

 

The brain is able to adapt to whatever you throw at it due to a process called brain plasticity. Brain plasticity describes the ability of the brain to grow and change shape: to create new neurons and to become stronger. Herein lies the principle of SAID: specific adaptations to imposed demands. If you practice languages, you get better at language. If you practice balance, your brain gets better at that.

 

But if you’re not growing, then all that extra neural matter is just wasted energy. The result? Your brain starts to atrophy and starts to burn through that extra matter. The result is that you deteriorate. 

 

Grow or shrink. Move forward or move backward. Being ‘static’ isn’t an option.

 

The Brain Loves Growth

 

When you learn a new language or skill, the brain will see this as positive stimulus. It sees this as a chance to get stronger and to ultimately improve your ability to survive. Thus, it produces positive hormones and neurotransmitters like dopamine and brain derived neurotrophic factor. These help you to learn, but they also prevent the atrophy we discussed. They protect the brain against degeneration and they make you smarter.

 

So, while you might feel like the very best thing you can do for your brain is to relax and to sit down, actually the brain much prefers challenge and learning. Sure, have your evening off, but make sure your life isn’t just a case of alternating between stress at work and doing ‘nothing’ at home. Keep learning, keep going to new places and keep taking on new challenges!