How to Cope with Fear and Anxiety, the Stoic Way -- Psychology Today

 

"Closely related to the dichotomy of control is the principle of assent.

"Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, taught that knowledge could be secured through a process called katalepsis (Greek, “grasping”), which he illustrated through four successive hand gestures.

• First, he held out an open palm to represent an impression (essentially a sense impression or idea of the mind).
• Second, he opposed his fingertips into a claw to represent reason assenting, by free will, to the impression.
• Third, he flexed his fingers into a firm grasp to represent comprehension or katalepsis.
• And last, he slapped and squeezed the fist with his other hand to represent knowledge.

"The ability to assent to, or reject, impressions is, in the final analysis, the only thing that is fully within our control" -- Psychology Today.

How to Cope with Fear and Anxiety, the Stoic Way