Seneca: Finally, having traversed every one of the…

Most of our worries shrink when we lift our eyes beyond the cramped space of the present moment. Seneca describes the mind moving from its private troubles to the vast order of nature and time. You do not need to share his metaphysics to use the exercise. Step outside at night. Look at the sky. Read history. Remember that people before you have faced uncertainty, loss, ambition, and fear—and that the world continued. This is not an excuse to become detached from your responsibilities. It is perspective. The email that feels career-ending, the insult that keeps replaying in your head, the status marker everyone seems to possess: all of it looks different against a larger horizon. A mind trapped in itself makes every inconvenience a catastrophe. Give your attention something larger today. It will not solve every problem, but it can restore the scale on which a solution becomes possible.