Update

 Once upon a time , someone asked me if I would be happy working a job that was not at the university. Since my position at the university closed in 2020, I found myself doing exactly that— working in jobs not at the university. It has been a very difficult transition.  Recently, things shifted quickly and in unexpected ways. The short version is that I am leaving the hotel which I am currently working, having taken a position at another.  The longer version of the story is that I stopped by to see my good friend and former GM at his new hotel. While I was visiting with him, one of the owners came out and introduced himself and we got to talking. After a few minutes, he said he wanted me to meet his brother. Our conversation turned into a job interview and 48 hours later I accepted a new position as front desk, manager and assistant operations manager. After some negotiating, we reached an agreement and I start my new position on April 9. It’s a much nicer hotel and these...

Enchiridion 14: Work What Is In Your Power

"If you wish your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, you are foolish for you wish things to be in your power which are not so; and what belongs to others to be your own. So likewise, if you wish your servant to be without fault, you are foolish for you wish vice not to be vice, but something else. But if you wish not to be disappointed in your desires, that is in your own power. Exercise therefore, what is in your power. A man's master is he who is able to confer or remove whatever that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave." (Epictetus, Enchiridion 14)

I gotta Fortune Cookie written by a Chinese Stoic the other day. How fortunate! It's a goofy pic, so don't read into it too much.

My Fortune Cookie (a little Stoic humor tucked away in there) reminds us that that we only control what is in our power, so we are able to explore today's thought: dwelling on that which is beyond our control as if it were under our control is foolishness and this kind of thinking leads to to disappointment.

As a verb, "wish" is to, "feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable; want something that cannot or probably will not happen."

So if you wish (in effect, "pray") for something that is beyond your control, outside your power, "you are foolish." If wise King Solomon were speaking, he would say the act was futile, vain, empty. Void. 

What you have within your control is the ability to not be disappointed; that is, work what is in your power. Master your desires. 

Did you notice Epictetus' intriguing note about one who is κύριος (lord, master)? The master is one who gives and takes, so the one who is free wishes for nothing he can't give himself. He is no slave to his desires. He is as happy has he sets his mind to be.

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