5 Quotes by Seneca That Will Change How You See The World
Are you ready to look at things from a different POV?
Then, fasten your seatbelt to tap into Seneca’s Stoic wisdom we could use more of nowadays. He understood what life is all about. And although we think we’re as clever as no one before, his ancient wisdom proves us wrong.
Here are 5 quotes by Seneca that’ll change how you see the world.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
It’s all in your head.
Man, what I’ve suffered only in my imagination. I remember back in 2019 after I just came back from Southeast Asia and having spent almost all my savings, I worried. A lot.
About my professional future because I didn’t want to let my Bachelor’s go to waste. Because I had no perspective, after starting to work in a bar.
Even when my mother turned 60, and we flew out to Cura?ao to celebrate, I’d worry the whole time about what would happen next. Insecure as I was, I thought I’d never get a fitting job. Leaving me behind, living at my parents’ have no chance to like what I’m doing.
What happened in the end?
I had a good time working in the bar, made a friend for life, and moved to the UK to start working there — all within 6 months.
Often, the worst only happens in our imagination.
It never comes to life. But still, we treat it like it’s part of our life.
31% of the US experience anxiety at some point.
And it’s no wonder because most never learn a way to cope with worry. They become victims of their imagination, instead of using it to their advantage.
Just imagine you’d use this level of creativity for writing, painting, drawing, or anything else creative. If we focus on the here and now, often there’s no real reason to worry.
Be present to fix, what would get broken in your imagination.
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
Our lives are more comfortable than ever before, but is this a good thing?
Over time, we became experts in increasing comfort. Nowadays, we have a sedentary lifestyle, using our bodies mostly for getting something to eat from the next fridge or supermarket.
And even our mind is on stand-by most of the time because we have Netflix, Spotify, and a gazillion other possibilities to numb it.
Does this mean that everything was better in the past?
No, but it means that we’re steadily losing resilience.
Why? Because everything became so easy.
Many people in my close environment would pay a premium, only to have some extra legroom and a welcome drink. Sure, it’s cool, but in a way, it makes us weak.
For our first vacation, my GF and I chose to go to Mexico. We needed to catch the flight from Frankfurt, which meant we needed to take the express train from Stuttgart. Everything went smoothly until half an hour before we arrived at Frankfurt International.
The train halted. And there we were waiting, waiting and waiting some more in Mannheim.
After a felt eternity, we continued. And in theory, we still made it on time to Frankfurt International, after we ran through the whole airport. We queued full of hope.
The two men, before us, were even allowed to board! Then the lady at the counter said that we weren’t allowed to board anymore. Why? The two guys in front of us were in Business Class and therefore allowed to board.
Of course, it was unfortunate.
But it was only then, that I learned that my GF is chill in hectic, even unfortunate situations. And that was a real green flag for me.
We both know enough people that would go either berserk or full crybaby right there. Why? Because their lives are too comfortable, never experiencing some form of discomfort.
How can you strengthen your body and mind?
Life isn’t meant to be easy, and?that’s what makes it remarkable.
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
Contentment is a virtue.
It’s easy to get lost in the rat race, wanting more and more and more. Only yesterday I had to remind myself again, that life’s not a race.
I got lost in the thought, of where I could be if I’d started sooner. I could have more already. But what’s the point?
There’s no limit to craving.
It’s like eating sugary foods, spiking your blood sugar, leaving you wanting more and more and more. Only to leave you feeling nauseous — disgusted by yourself.
Yes, it takes longer to experience disgust when the only thing you crave is money. But eventually, you’ll reach the point. Ask Ebenezer Scrooge.
Does it mean that you need to be content with being homeless? Of course not. Life isn’t black and white.
Yet, it all boils down to one thing:
Be grateful?for what you have.
Because if you’re not, chances are high, you’ll never be.
There’ll always be a more beautiful person, better car, nicer house, better-paying job, you name it.
When you crave more, you’ll never get enough.
And this will leave you feeling miserable.
“He who is brave is free.”
Freedom starts in your mind, not your purse.
That’s what most people get wrong. Every day, all day, we talk about financial freedom and how to finally say: “I quit and retire early!” to your boss.
People would go 100 extra miles to save up money to finally retire.
But it doesn’t start there. It never did. I repeat: freedom is an attitude, not a certain amount of cash in your bank account.
Why?
Because you need to be brave to be free. You need to escape the norm of office soldiers, clocking in for service at 9 am sharp, loading their Excel sheets with numbers, cocking their diagrams, shooting them out via e-mail, and leaving depleted by all life in the evening at 6 pm.
You have to be different from that.
You need to be brave enough to free yourself from thinking that this is the only way of life. From thinking that this is the right way of life.
To be free, you need to walk a different path.
A path no one has walked before because there’s no one just like you. Although you share certain similarities with others, you need to walk your very own path. And yes, that’s freaking scary.
But it’s a necessity to be free.
Braveness is the first step towards freedom.
“The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.”
Less is more.
Buddhism knew that, too.
You don’t need more, but you need to want less.
That’s what most get wrong. And I can’t blame us. Because at every single corner and with every single billboard, we get told otherwise. Even most of our friends and family tell us otherwise.
“You need to do something with your life.” or
“We only want you to be better off than we were.” is what they tell you. And in essence, this might be true, but it was never about the material side of things in life.
It was always about being more content with what we had already.
Contentment is one of the highest virtues.
And we need to defend it against advanced enemies, leveraging psychological tricks to exploit us.
You can’t get richer than finding contentment with what you already have.
With his?Stoic wisdom, Seneca saw life in a way most people couldn’t. Here’s a summary of what he knew: