March Madness

This year, I am reading a book called The Daily Stoic. It is one page per day with wisdom from the stoic philosophers, people like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. What a perfect source for some Wednesday Wisdom!

The author, Ryan Holiday chooses a quotation from one of the stoic philosophers and he expands on it, sharing some guiding thoughts and explanation. One daily stoic entry jumped out at me since the college basketball tournament March Madness is about to start. Selection Sunday is this weekend! 

The entry begins, “Why do athletes trash talk each other?” Essentially, because it works! It gets the other guy off his game by making him chase his emotions instead of focusing on his goal.

It goes on to talk about how letting your emotions rule you takes you out of the driver’s seat of your own life.  To be your most true self and stay focused on your goals, you can’t let emotions rule you.

I know we can’t be the person who NEVER gets mad, but it’s something to aim for and consider.  Aren’t we at our strongest when we are a force for peace and stability, rather than spewing out anger?

So, most of us won’t ever be in the NCAA basketball tournament, but for the love of Moses, don’t trash talk yourself! Don’t carry around your own bully who throws you into emotional fits at the drop of a hat.