Ancient Philosophy Applied To Modern Policing
Overcoming Outside Negativity
About
Philosophy in policing is a powerful tool, and Stoic philosophy is ideally suited for the busy LEO. It is practical and can be used in a wide variety of situations and circumstances. Emotional control, resilience, leadership, happiness, wellness, ethics, strength, and productivity are just some of the areas of life that good philosophy of life can help with.
Outside Negativity Defined
The Large Part
Outside negativity can be so many things. Every person has their own list of things that bother them. We are all being resilient to our own challenges and stressors. In this presentation we take a look at a large part of that group of things that can be defined as outside negativity: Insults, disrespect, unfair criticism, Offensive people saying and doing offensive things, and the haters of the world who actively try to make us miserable.
Mental Baggage
We talked about how each time you experience insults and disrespect it is like taking on a small piece of mental baggage, and how we often ignore it because it is not the most important thing at the time or the biggest threat we are facing.
The Baggage Problem
It Sticks Around
Mental baggage generally stays with you until you "unpack it" or let it go. The same thing is true with grievances or the things you choose to dwell on or what you allow to occupy your mind. If you hang on to things it can diminish the quality of your life, and make you unhappy.
It's Heavy
Over time, especially in law enforcement, we can collect baggage that does add up to weigh us down. When people are burnt out, jaded, cynical or unhopeful about the future, it is generally a sign that they are carrying a heavy load of mental baggage. We tend to collect a little each day that we work, and it adds up over time. Mentally we become worn out and tired.
Resiliency and Baggage
Resiliency is often described as getting up when you fall down. You mentally get up but it is made more difficult when you are mentally weighed down by all the negativity that you have collected. The weight of the mental baggage make it feel impossible, and it chips away at your willpower. Your desire to get back up.
Two Strategies
Get Stronger
Getting stronger both physically and mentally are an option. With time and effort you can increase your capacity. There are Stoic practices that allow you to train your mind so that you become mentally tougher, and more resilient. This mental training takes time.
Lighten The Load
The second option is to lighten the load. That is the skill we are focusing on here. How to cast aside some mental baggage, and how to refuse to take on more. Learning this skill is much quicker.
Upgrading Your Personal Philosophy
How You See The World
How You See The World
How You See The World
Your perception of life and the world around you. Big picture, how you see things.
How You See Yourself
How You See The World
How You See The World
What you think about you. What is your goal? What is important to you? What is your mission or purpose in life?
Your Inner Voice
How You See The World
Your Inner Voice
How you talk to yourself. Encouraging yourself, boosting yourself, and helping yourself. Making sure the voice in your own head is more like your best friend, and not being your own worst enemy.
Realization & Choice
"You have power over your mind, not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.”
- Epictetus
Premeditatio Malorum
Not Getting Sucker-Punched by Life
We know that negativity, insults, disrespect are coming. That is just the life of a LEO. We can't do anything about that, but we can be ready. We can prepare for it. We can expect it, plan for it, and train for it. Just like a sucker-punch we can either be caught flat footed and unprepared, or we can anticipate it and train for the moment. We can brace ourselves, learn to block it, and even learn to dodge it. That is why we study all these Stoic tools, tactics, and skills. Getting up when you fall is great. Not getting knocked down in the first place is even better.
The Words of Epictetus
The Cornerstone of Stoicism
“The chief task in life is simply this:
To identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.”
– Epictetus
Internals and Externals
The Choices You Can Make
What happens in your mind is 100% within your control. The internals are always in your power. They are up to you. The outcomes are always going to be success. You are very strong when you realize what your internals are and choose to focus on them
The Choices You Can't Make
Externals are not within your control. You don't have power over them. The outcome of things in the external world is up to luck or chance. These are not things you get to decide, so you should not spend all your worry, care, concern, attention, or effort focusing on them. You should NEVER attach your happiness or peace of mind to an external.
Key Point
IMPORTANT
To you, the biggest external of all are the internals of everyone else. They have 100% complete and total control of what they think, believe, decide, say, and do. That means you have ZERO control over those things. You do not want to base your happiness, mental health, success, or satisfaction with life on something you have so little control over. It is an important realization to make, and choosing to not roll the dice with important life choices will always be the smart move.
Stoic Negativity Force Field
I Use This All The Time
This one realization is often my #1 tool when I experience insults, negativity, disrespect, unfair criticism, or hate. This is how I avoid taking on mental baggage, and getting weighed down. Often I don't need to use any other tools or tactics afterwards.
How It Works
Whey someone starts hitting you with negativity, start asking yourself questions about who they are. Are they an authority on the matter? Are they someone you admire the opinion of? Do you look up to them? Are they qualified to judge you on this? If not, if they are doing worse than you, then you don't care what they think.
Advice From an 80's Cop
My dad gave me this advice when I started police work "Always consider the source." This is great advice. It works during investigations, asking if the source of information is valid will save you a ton of headaches. It will also prevent you from taking the opinions of fools on as fresh mental baggage to carry. DO NOT make the mistake of valuing everyone's opinion about you. Don't go believing what haters say. Always consider if they know what they are talking about, and if there is any evidence.
Stop Taking Things Personally
Profession VS Individual
Insults, disrespect, and criticism of law enforcement ARE not directed at you personally. You have no responsibility to defend the idea of law enforcement from the thoughts and opinions of random strangers. Law enforcement has always had critics, it always will. That is an external which is completely out of your control.
More Ideas
Two way to avoid it
1. Remember that you are in complete control of your thoughts, opinions, and beliefs. That includes not forming beliefs about everything and allowing yourself not to have an opinion about everything you see online.
2. Just don't read the comments. They are rarely positive or good. You wont be upset by or take on any mental baggage from comments and negativity you never see and are completely unaware of.
They Don't Know You
Most people don't know you very well especially the ones who hit you with negativity. They imagine who your are and create a character in their own minds, which is fueled by their own issues and negative experiences. Realize that people don't know you well enough to hate you, and if they did know you, they would probably like you.
The Choice Of Empathy
Happiness and positivity can not be in the same mind at the same time as anger and hate. You have to make a choice about which one you want in your own mind. Responding to hate and anger with hate and anger means you are choosing not to be happy and not to be positive. It is a painful, gloomy, and sad way to live. I choose to pity the hurtful angry people of the world. They are making poor choices and harming themselves.