1. Some Things Are Up to Us

Epictetus opens with the one rule that holds the whole book together. Learn which things are up to you and which are not. Everything else follows from that.

Some things are up to us, and some are not.

In our power are our opinions, our wants, our choices to go after something or avoid it, and in a word, all our own actions.

Not in our power are our body, our property, our reputation, our position, and in a word, anything that is not our own action.

The things that are up to us are free by nature. No one can block them. The things that are not up to us are weak, and they belong to other people.

Remember this.

If you treat what belongs to others as your own, you will be blocked at every turn. You will grieve. You will feel upset. You will blame both gods and people.

If instead you treat only what is yours as your own, and what belongs to others as theirs, no one will ever force you. No one will hold you back. You will never blame or accuse anyone. You will never be your own enemy, and no one will be able to harm you.

You are aiming at great things. You cannot let yourself be pulled even a little toward the other things. You must drop some of them entirely. Others you must set aside for now.

If you try to have calm and riches and honor and power all at once, you will fail at the outer things, and you will certainly fail at the inner ones. The inner ones are the only ones that bring real happiness and freedom.

Train yourself to say to every harsh appearance:

"You are only an appearance, not truly the thing you seem to be."

Then test it by the rules you have learned. First and most important, test whether it touches something in your power or something that is not.

If it is not in your power, have this ready to say:

"It is nothing to me."

What this means. Everything you meet is either up to you or it is not. Sort it before you react to it. That one question will save you half your troubles.