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Spheres and the Peace of mind
10 months ago
Usually one journal on a political topic is enough for me but I do see numerous people including friends panicking and their lives being impeded before anything has truly happened.
This is not a journal to tell that "everything will be good" or even telling what to believe, there are other people more convincing than me in that regard.
What I want to talk about is spheres we all have around us.
Three of them to be exact:
- The sphere of concern:
--> Everything that you believe will affect you.
- The sphere of influence:
--> That includes especially precautions you can take regarding possible problems or dangers from the Sphere of Concern. This also includes people who genuinely listen to what you say.
- and The Sphere of Control:
--> This refers to everything you alone influence. E.g. to your direct decisions, your physical room, who you work for, where you go etc.
You are at the center of all of these spheres.
The idea is, regularly evaluating what lies within these spheres will give you a peace of mind.
The truly cynical people will claim that's just "fooling yourself" but trust me it works! Our minds are complex and certainly not purely logical.
The core concept consists of one goal and one thing to accept:
The goal: Keep your sphere of concern as small as possible, ideally smaller than the sphere of influence.
And one thing to accept:
What lies beyond your sphere of influence cannot be changed, no matter what you do. Consequently that means any negative THOUGHTS have regarding these things are harmful.
To express it more clearly: For everything you perceive as negative, you do not gain anything from thinking about it if it's outside your influence (meaning you cannot take meaningful precautions).
This sounds simple and logical and yet you have to tell this to yourself (that we are not robotic logical minds shows in this aspect too). It's a bit like the "Just Do It" mantra.
This thinking has influence my decision making.
To bring a topical example: Have heard people desperate due to the supposed Project2025 and a p0rn ban in the US. What happens on that level of politics is (now) far, far outside your sphere of influence. Any decision you make, does not change it. Therefore do not waste your energy on thinking about it.
Focus on what you can control: E.g. The art or other content you make. The fun time you spend with people talking about naughty things.
I wrote all this off the top of my head. It's years since someone taught me this.
You can find a more in depth approach here:
https://positivepsychology.com/circ.....-of-influence/
...or if all that fails.. Go for some funny videos :)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2ZLSBzMv7rs
EDIT, since this might not have been clear:
No, the idea is not to just care about yourself alone, ignoring friends or others.
It's about limiting how much you care once it becomes harmful to you. No friend is actually helped by you getting hurt (or at least no true friend would want that)!
If you can actually help them because their problems affect you, then that IS entirely within your sphere of influence and none says you should not do that.
This is not a journal to tell that "everything will be good" or even telling what to believe, there are other people more convincing than me in that regard.
What I want to talk about is spheres we all have around us.
Three of them to be exact:
- The sphere of concern:
--> Everything that you believe will affect you.
- The sphere of influence:
--> That includes especially precautions you can take regarding possible problems or dangers from the Sphere of Concern. This also includes people who genuinely listen to what you say.
- and The Sphere of Control:
--> This refers to everything you alone influence. E.g. to your direct decisions, your physical room, who you work for, where you go etc.
You are at the center of all of these spheres.
The idea is, regularly evaluating what lies within these spheres will give you a peace of mind.
The truly cynical people will claim that's just "fooling yourself" but trust me it works! Our minds are complex and certainly not purely logical.
The core concept consists of one goal and one thing to accept:
The goal: Keep your sphere of concern as small as possible, ideally smaller than the sphere of influence.
And one thing to accept:
What lies beyond your sphere of influence cannot be changed, no matter what you do. Consequently that means any negative THOUGHTS have regarding these things are harmful.
To express it more clearly: For everything you perceive as negative, you do not gain anything from thinking about it if it's outside your influence (meaning you cannot take meaningful precautions).
This sounds simple and logical and yet you have to tell this to yourself (that we are not robotic logical minds shows in this aspect too). It's a bit like the "Just Do It" mantra.
This thinking has influence my decision making.
To bring a topical example: Have heard people desperate due to the supposed Project2025 and a p0rn ban in the US. What happens on that level of politics is (now) far, far outside your sphere of influence. Any decision you make, does not change it. Therefore do not waste your energy on thinking about it.
Focus on what you can control: E.g. The art or other content you make. The fun time you spend with people talking about naughty things.
I wrote all this off the top of my head. It's years since someone taught me this.
You can find a more in depth approach here:
https://positivepsychology.com/circ.....-of-influence/
...or if all that fails.. Go for some funny videos :)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2ZLSBzMv7rs
EDIT, since this might not have been clear:
No, the idea is not to just care about yourself alone, ignoring friends or others.
It's about limiting how much you care once it becomes harmful to you. No friend is actually helped by you getting hurt (or at least no true friend would want that)!
If you can actually help them because their problems affect you, then that IS entirely within your sphere of influence and none says you should not do that.
Am not someone who has familiarized much with philosophies. I do see the parallels here though. Interesting~