Stoic Routine - Mornings (From "The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy")

     A modern adaptation of the kind of daily regimen practiced by ancient Stoics, taken from Donald Robertson's The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy:

"Mornings

1. Meditation
     1.1. Take time to calm your mind and gather your thoughts before preparing for the day ahead.
     1.1.1. Be still and turn your attention inward, or isolate yourself from others and walk in silence in a pleasant and serene environment.
     1.1.2. The View from Above. Observe (or just imagine) the rising sun and the stars at daybreak, and think of the whole cosmos and your place within it.
2. Premeditation
     2.1. Mentally rehearse generic precepts, for example,
     2.1.1. "Follow nature," i.e., accept the here and now, and,
     2.1.2. "Make good use of your impressions," that is, monitor your thoughts and forcefully question their logic and objectivity where it is necessary to do so (Epictetus)
     2.2. Mentally rehearse any potential challenges of the day ahead, and the specific precepts required to cope wisely with them, perhaps making use of the previous evening's self-analysis.
     2.3. Periodically contemplate catastrophe and death, rehearse facing such calamities "philosophically," that is, with rational composure; contemplate the uncertainty of the future and the value of enjoying the here and now. Remember you must die, that is, that as a mortal being each moment counts and the future is uncertain.
3. Contemplation of the sage
     3.1. Periodically try to contemplate the ideal of the sage, try to put his philosophical attitudes into a few plain words, what must he tell himself when faced with the same adversities you must overcome? Memorize these precepts and try to apply them yourself. Ask yourself, 'What would someone with absolute wisdom do today?' Adopt a role model such as Socrates, or someone whose wisdom and courage you admire."

Bertrand Russell on Happiness (from "The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy")

     In The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Donald Robertson cites "the influence of the Stoic tradition" on the writings of the 20th century philosopher Bertrand Russell. Robertson goes on to cite The Conquest of Happiness (1930) in which Russell describes "a philosophical method of overcoming anxiety and worry, indistinguishable from the praemeditatio malorum" as well as what Robertson calls "one of the most lucid explanations of exposure therapy that one could wish for:

     Worry is a form of fear, and all forms of fear produce fatigue. A man who has learnt not to feel   
     fear will find the fatigue of daily life greatly diminished. Now fear, in its most basic harmful form
     arises where there is some danger which we are unwilling to face. At odd moments horrible
     thoughts dart into our minds; what they are depends upon the person, but almost everybody has
     some kind of lurking fear. [Russell, 1930, p.60]"

     Robertson goes on to describe Russell's prescription that "the proper course with every kind of fear is to think about it rationally and calmly, but with great concentration, until it becomes completely familiar. In the end its familiarity will blunt its terrors; the whole subject will become boring, and our thoughts will turn away from it, not, as formerly, by an effort of will, but through a mere lack of interest in the topic."

Praemeditatio Malorum (from "The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy")

     In his book The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Donald Robertson discusses a Stoic practice called praemeditatio malorum - "the premeditation of evils" - "preparing the mind in advance to cope with adversity." The practice involves spending time imagining the possible "evils" that might befall you, the things that could go wrong with whatever you have planned. By facing these "evils" in advance, in theory, one robs them of the ability to surprise us and overwhelm our reason with the sudden intensity of their appearance to be true "evils." We can take the time to identify them, realize that to the sage they are not evils, properly categorize them as indifferents . . . and so when one of these things does befall us, we are not overwhelmed. We are prepared. A "misfortune" presents itself to us, and rather than be shocked and overwhelmed and thinking, "Such a terrible thing has happened to me!", instead we find ourselves calmly regarding the "misfortune," able to say, "No, you do not fool me! You are not terrible. You are a thing indifferent, and you have no power over me."