Daily Meditations · Thursday, July 9, 2026
On what we control
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life. — Epictetus, Enchiridion VIII
Epictetus was born into slavery, probably in Hierapolis in modern-day Turkey, around 50 AD. He had no control over his status, his location, or his owner, a man named Epaphroditus who, according to at least one account, broke Epictetus's leg to demonstrate a point about pain. Epictetus kept talking.
This teaching isn't resignation. It's a distinction: between what is subject to your will and what isn't. The weather, other people's opinions, the outcome of a project: not yours. Your response to each of those things: entirely yours. The Stoics called this the dichotomy of control, and Epictetus spent his entire career teaching it to people who thought they already understood it.
Where today are you fighting reality instead of working with it?
