Bad luck brings good luck - and good luck brings bad luck - ... What we can learn from Stoicism

Bad luck brings good luck - and good luck brings bad luck - ... how lessons from Stoicism accompanied me through my life.

It is worth it for everyone to look deeper into the philosophy of Stoicism. It is a method to help us in our thinking and actions in our fast moving and often unpredictable world. We can’t control the external events in our lives. But when something happens in our lives, we are in the position to decide what these things mean; we decided what the effect is. And remember this quote:

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Stoicism is about the wisdom, or call it way of thinking and dealing with challenges that allows us to have a good and happy life.

When it comes to dealing with difficult situations or people, the principles of Stoicism can provide you with a wealth of insight and advice.

Putting it into a nutshell - it's all about the idea of looking inwards and changing perspectives. (soon I will write an article how one can use creative tools and design-thinking techniques)

I firmly suggest to spend time with yourself asking yourself about your life, and then later at a different time asking yourself about your day. 

The same when a challenging situation arises - look inwards and from different perspectives.

And it isn’t to judge life, days or situation. Like the football game, it is going over the facts objectively and making adjustments where necessary to live a better life, to live the life you want to live.

Be fair to you and the situation. And if you think negatively about it, you will feel negative, and if you think positively about it, you will feel more positive. 

The mind is almost like a trampoline and how you view at something will determine what you’ll feel about it - the good and bad energy you put into the trampoline will bounce back.

My wife often told this Chinese parable of “Sāi Wēng lost his horse” (even at this point my wife was my north star)

Sāi Wēng lived on the border and he raised horses for a living. One day, he lost one of his prized horses. After hearing of the misfortune, his neighbor felt sorry for him and came to comfort him.

But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?”

After a while, the lost horse returned with another beautiful horse. The neighbor came over again and congratulated Sāi Wēng on his good fortune.

But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a bad thing for me?”

One day, his son went out for a ride with the new horse. He was violently thrown from the horse and broke his leg. The neighbors once again expressed their condolences to Sāi Wēng,

but Sāi Wēng simply said, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?”

One year later, the Emperor’s army arrived at the village to recruit all able-bodied men to fight in the war. Because of his injury, Sāi Wēng’s son could not go off to war, and was spared from certain death.

If I would be asked to summarize this parable into one or two sentences it would be: “Bad luck brings good luck - and good luck brings bad luck” - it's all about attitude to life, constructive attitude - how I am, you are or we are dealing or can deal with challenges and issues in life.

The Stoics believe that we should focus on impressing ourselves and not others. Impressing ourselves through personal growth and wisdom.

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
Marcus Aurelius

“Accept the things to which fate binds you and love the people with whom fate brings you together but do so with your heart.”
Marcus Aurelius

Final Thought

Growth never ends. I don’t think anyone ever reaches mastery, not me, not you, … but like any student, we never stop learning and never stop growing, and that is key.
Stoics believe that we have one aim in our lives and that is to be a good man, and not just to those around us, but to ourselves too.