A short reminder to focus on what you can control instead of tormenting yourself by focusing on what you can't control. ( )

I first read about Epictetus from the book "The Practicing Stoic". Of course, Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher. Epictetus started out his life as a slave, only becoming free later, so his thoughts on freedom have a certain authenticity and weight to them. His basic advice is that freedom comes from conforming one's happiness to what one controls and not allowing one's happiness to be dictated by what one does not control. If our happiness relies on an office, or money that someone else controls, our happiness is always controlled by someone else and we are not truly free. Even our health, and the health of our loved ones are not totally in our control, and should not be the basis of our happiness.

While the freedom that Epictetus celebrates and strives towards is an inner freedom, his work also contains other more practical advice. In particular, I liked his message about seeing the value of things clearly. Epictetus says he does not envy the famous because he knows what the famous had to do to get their fame, such as grovel before the masses. Epictetus says that one should not feel bad about not being invited to a fancy dinner party, because then one does not have to pay the price of flattering the host. Often, we want what others having, without even thinking about the price they paid for it. This extends to professions and careers, Epictetus advises us not to only imagine the benefits of those careers (such as money or prestige) but also to consider clearly the sacrifices made for these careers. Epictetus, like the Stoics generally, recommends not attaching values to external things. Someone can have more of a desirable quality than you, be it wealth or talent, but that does not mean they are better than you. When bad things happen to others like when they break a cup or lose a relative we brush it off as minor, while if the same happens to us, it seems catastrophic. Instead of such hypocrisy, Epictetus encourages us to be objective in how we view these things, and find our freedom in our clear view of the surrounding world and our place in it.

Although I enjoyed reading the more expansive source material found here, I feel like the core of Epictetus's message was gracefully summed up in the Practicing Stoic. The translation here is more technical than the others in this series (for example, including a glossary in the back explaining translation choices), and the introduction more academic and theoretical. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but may feel unusual for fans of the ancient guide series who have read other more colloquial entries in the series. ( )