Just reading about Stoicism.
It sounds like its all about feeling the pain.
So that when the real pain comes along, you can mentally find away out of it.
Does anyone follow this philosophy?
Do you fast yourself once a week, for example?
It's a collection of spiritual exercises designed to help people through the difficulty of life.
To focus on managing emotion; specifically, non-helpful emotion."
"Let us become intimate with poverty so that fortune may not catch us off our guard.
We shall be rich with all the more comfort if we learn how far poverty is from being a burden."
When you challenge yourself by living without luxuries or indulgences, say to yourself: 'is this the condition that I feared?'
The soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress.
It is while fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against its violence."
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life...09-gmptyy.html