220213 What I learned in my studies this morning 2

O'erpleasing things,

As waters o'erflowing bounds,

Left for troubles brought.

Daily Stoic:

I must guard against unpleasant and unvirtuous impressions. Prevent myself from assenting to them, catastrophizing about them.

I must be vigilant around pleasure, as well, lest I allow myself to be swept away into vice by excess and imprudence.

It's a minor form of premeditatio malorum, a conscious prediction of the negative effects of giving myself over to the temptation.

As Donald Robertson, Stoic and psychotherapist, puts it, "Stoic 'functional analysis'" from CBT to help.

Will eating that ice cream increase my happiness? I'll get the fleeting pleasure of the taste, a pleasure that fades the instant it leaves my tongue. Then....? It's gone. Wow. Five to thirty seconds of sensation in my mouth and in my mind. Yippee. Repeated 25 times until the bowl is empty.

On the other hand, later my blood sugar will spike. My stomach may feel overfull and unpleasant. I'll get sleepy, but what sleep I get will be rough and unfulfilling.

Whoa. I specifically requested the opposite of this.

And that's just short-term long-term. Long-term long-term, my health will deteriorate as I gain weight (or fail to lose weight) and other health problems will exacerbate.

Perhaps I should take l lessons from Epicurus, lessons praised by Seneca and other Stoics, and use this opportunity to contemplate avoidance of future pain by forgoing present pleasure.