210603 What I learned in my studies this morning

Laughter in a park,
Children play near where I sit.
Nothing is better.

From The Daily Stoic: 

If I cannot do exactly what I want to do to help society, I can try to help a different way.  If I can't do that, I will look for another way.  If that is not possible, I will look for a fourth or fifth or twelfth way to do something positive.

I will not let the perfect be the enemy of achieving some good in this life.

 

Today's Meditation:

From A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy

From A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine 

Chapter 13: Anger — On Overcoming Anti-Joy

Some see anger as a tool to be used for motivation. Seneca points out that the problem with this is that anger can be notoriously difficult to turn off and put aside.  It may, perhaps, offer the drive you want to achieve, but it is just as likely, even moreso, to push you beyond your goals and generate negative consequences.  Better to cultivate a calm but directed attitude which can accomplish the same purpose.

Sometimes, however, we run into someone who does not respond to calm and to reason.  In such a case, the Stoics say we should feign anger.  Act in such a way that your external behavior will produce the desired result, but keep your true emotions in check and consciously realize that you are pretending so as to get the other person to respond correctly (i.e. to stop whatever transgression they are committing).