Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us.” It sounds so simple, yet most, if not all of us, at one time or another in out lives cannot grasp this concept of how to view life, the world around us, and how we interact with it. I still struggle with things outside my control quite often.
The book was very short but packed quite a bit of knowledge in it. Practically everything Epictetus taught I could apply not only to my life in prison, but to my life outside the prison walls. I realized that it was our perception of things around us that dictate how we view life, and if we just tried to change our perception, things could look totally different.
I also enjoyed the concept of the ABC’s of Inner Boxing, where we were taught about how to examine our Attacking (self-defeating) thoughts, Block them, and Counterpunch (replace) them with positive affirmations.
In the end, it is really all about how we want to see the world. The book referred to that thinking as making your life a palace or prison just by how you think. I hope to one day make my life a palace.
