Ask Yourself

Apr 27

This writing is Certified Human

“First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do” — Epictetus

The Obstacle

We do things we should not
Lessons we should learn
We don’t.

Repeat mistakes
Arguments
Frustrations
Anxieties
Conflicts.

We go in circles
For a lifetime.

We look at those younger
Wondering why they don’t learn.

And still
We have not learned.

We do not perform as well as we could
Stress more than we should
Spend time where we should not.

Our relationships strain
Experiencing the same frustrations
Conflict
Arguments as they did in the past.

Ask yourself, why?

We have learned
Slowly.

Grown older
Better
More efficient
Wiser.

We have both learned and taught
Ourselves and others.

We do not automatically get better
We do automatically get older.

To get better
We need to learn
Have intention
Pay attention
Recognize where we stumble
Fail
Struggle.

We can learn from our past
Intend a future
Where we do not repeat.

We can imagine the person we should be in the future
By asking ourselves
What have we learned
What should we do better?

Before conflict escalates
Before an important decision
Ask
What is important
What is not important?

Our older self would know
We can imagine the advice our older self would give.

Ask yourself.

The Practice Of Self-Mastery

• Break the pattern
• Pause before reacting
• Ask our older self
• Choose to listen

CHEAT CODE: NOTICE → PAUSE → ASK → CHOOSE → LISTEN