In my observation, philosophies like Stoicism can fall short because they have been distilled down to quippy platitudes that lack truly actionable methodologies, tools, or skills. For example, the Stoic idea of the dichotomy of control asserts that the only thing within our control is our well reasoned response to the world around us. That sounds great, but when you look closer there is the glaring question of “what on earth is a well reasoned response, and how do you gain the capability and capacity to formulate one?”
You might be tempted to answer with something like “Well Jon, of course we use critical thinking skills to form well reasoned thoughts.” And my answer to this would be two parts. First, the term critical thinking is a vague and ambiguous (maybe even subjective?) term which lacks enough detail to help us understand with clarity. Second, what about our emotions, how do they factor into creating a well reasoned response?
Before entering into counselor training I rooted around for ways to more fully understand how we can learn to generate well reasoned responses. I found some interesting ideas that helped with critical thinking like Continuous Process Improvement, The 8 Steps of Problem Solving, Thinking Fast and Slow, and formal analytical methodologies used in intelligence work like the Analysis of Competing Hypothesis. But all of these seemed overly systematized and deliberately shunned our intuitions and emotional systems.
Thankfully, as a counselor I have had the chance to learn more about the tools nested in cognitive behavior therapy interventions and the methodologies of mindfulness which, when combined, start to provide greater clarity on how we can generate well reasoned responses.
If you have ever found yourself wanting to know more about “how” to skillfully live some of the tenets of ancient philosophies like Stoicism I would highly suggest reading about Cognitive Behavioral and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills and Mindfulness. I have found these to provide some of the best insights and tools for developing the ability to skillfully generate a well reasoned response to the world around us.
