Self-examination as a technique
How much of today's disturbance was about something you control?
What it argues
The dichotomy of control: judgments and intentions are up to us, outcomes and other people's opinions are not. Disturbance comes from treating the second as if it were the first. This is the direct ancestor of cognitive behavioural therapy, and it is a procedure, not a mood.
The probe
Split today's worries into two columns: up to me, not up to me. Act only on the first column; note what the second costs you in attention.
The source
Enchiridion — Epictetus, c. 125 CE. The link goes to the text or to a catalogue record for it, not to a summary. This one is the text itself.
Read next
What if reading was supposed to change you rather than inform you?