Which, and which not lies in your power?

If you ask this question seriously, and actually apply it. There will be no room in your heart for envy.

Why would it be?

Envy is ignorance

If you happen to see someone else carrying the computer that you’d like to have or driving the car that you’d like to drive, you should feel happy for him. For he is enjoying the fruits of his work. We should be happy in any of these situations because there is nothing else we desire than what we already have, the will to focus on what is under our control.

This is precisely what Ralph Waldo Emmerson referred to when he said:

Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide.

Envy is ignorance of your power, your immense power, available to you precisely this very moment. The power to control what is under your direct control.

When we choose to do and live with what is directly under our control we choose to live independently as well. We may emulate the greatest characters in history like Socrates or Marcus Aurelius but in the end, we must choose to live our lives.

There is a great power on acting within that which is under our control. Doors open after action. The area of influence you have may be small, but with enough action, it will start to get bigger and bigger and then we will all congratulate the work that’s been done.

Stoic answers aim is to provide answers to the deepest human questions, which sadly, are almost always never asked.

Subscribe here

Visit our Patreon page for more stoic, Patreon only content. Thanks.