Your Mind Is Your Biggest Enemy

Your Mind Is Your Biggest Enemy

Mastery: Your Mind Is Your Biggest Enemy

Issue No. 28 | July 10th, 2023 | Read Time: 3 Minutes

Happy Monday Everyone!

You're your own biggest enemy.

That's right.

Not your neighbor, not your business competitor or your family. You.

If it's common knowledge that you're responsible for your own actions, doesn't that mean you're also responsible for your thoughts and how you respond to them?

For those of you that haven't read the book

As a Man Thinketh

by James Allen, it can easily be summarized into one quote: 

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

If that sounds familiar, it's not because it originally came from

As a Man Thinketh

, it's because it's originally from the Bible in the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 23, Verse 7.

In better words, who you become is based off the thoughts you ponder on. 

And if all you do is think about your business failing, or that you're never going to succeed in college, then you'll infect your mind with a negative outlook on life which will only cause you to take action that aligns with those thoughts.

But let's dive a little deeper.

Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and advocate of Stoic Philosophy said

Disturbance only comes from within, from our own perceptions.

And Epictetus, a teacher of ancient Stoic Philosophy said

It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgments concerning them.

Meaning, all of our stress and anxiety doesn't come from the obstacles around us. They come from how we perceive them.

And a lot of times it's anxiety and fear that's keeping us from taking action on our biggest dreams.

So if you can learn to calm the enemy in your mind that is always warping your judgment, you can start perceiving life for the potential it offers. 

One tip you can do to silence your exaggerated thoughts is to

keep in mind its limits and don't magnify them in your imagination.

That's right out of Marcus Aurelius's book

Meditations

. And if you can train your mind to stop focusing on the worst, you can escape anxiety.

Because you can throw away your thoughts just as easily as you conjure them up in your mind. At one point Aurelius said he

discarded

anxiety because he realized it was within his own perceptions.

But with anything, mastery takes time. Controlling your mind and its thoughts isn't a skill you can learn overnight.

As long as you realize there is an enemy within you, you can stop thinking about what could go wrong, and start focusing on what could go right.

Until next time,

Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I'm Currently Reading -

I'm now reading

The Essays

by Michel De Montaigne, a collection of Montaigne's outlook on philosophy and lessons on navigating life in a Stoic way.

  • If you'd like to see my notes to any of the other books I have previously read, then check out my websiteisaiahctaylor.comto view my entire library of notes and summaries.

Quote Of The Week

  • "Don't let yesterday take up too much of today." — Will Rogers