this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
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The main character in the movie Croupier has a really great philosophy: "Hang on tightly, let go lightly." It took me longer to wrap my head around, but ultimately I realized it's a rephrasing of a core stoicism concept, and I love especially memorable quotes like this.
You have ultimately no control over events. A loved one could be struck by a fatal aneurysm tomorrow and you could't prevent it. All you can do is cherish what you have, always knowing that you could lose it at any moment.
It's easy to read Epictitus and hear, "don't care about your wife, because she is already dead,” and I think Epictitus really was kind of a dick. Aurelius was either a better or not compassionate author, though, and phrased it around cultivating an awareness that we are powerless against much of the universe, so hang on tightly to what you have, while you have it, but let go lightly when it is time, and don't carry unnecessary grief and things you can't control.
Stoicism seems, to me, to focus much on answering your specific question.
This philosophy has the issue where it tells you to roll over and die in every situation and to never rebell or argue in some circumstances. If I put you in a cage and that's your life you have to accept this is your life and that's it. You see the issue with this philosophy now?
Have you read any Stoic writings? That sounds like a hot take from Stoicism cliff notes.
And, no. I see no issue with Stoicism; I think it's a very pragmatic philosophy.