When you are going to take in hand any act, remind
yourself what kind of an act it is. If you are going to
bathe, place before yourself what happens in the bath:
some splashing the water, others pushing against one
another, others abusing one another, and some stealing:
and thus with more safety you will undertake the matter,
if you say to yourself, I now intend to bathe, and to
maintain my will in a manner conformable to nature.
And so you will do in every act: for thus if any hindrance
to bathing shall happen, let this thought be ready: it was
not this only that I intended, but I intended also to
maintain my will in a way conformable to nature; but I
shall not maintain it so, if I am vexed at what happens.
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The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments. Epictetus. George Long. translator. London. George Bell and Sons. 1890.
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