The Day I Met Descartes

Source: Benjamin Lehman/Unsplash

It was a wet and windy Tuesday morning. I was on my way home from the shops, in the comfort of my heated car. As I was passing the crooked house next to the big stream, I spotted Descartes on the side of the road. The poor dog looked wet, miserable, and lost. He clearly needed help. I pulled over and put my hazard lights on. I stepped out of the car cautiously and started talking to him. His eyes were kind and his demeanor was soft. I took a step closer and he walked to me, gently wagging his tail. I praised him and gave him a cuddle, before lifting him into the back of my car.

With Descartes safely tucked away in the comfort of my car, I drove to our local vet. She read the microchip in his ear and called the owner. Fortunately, she got hold of him, and he came to pick him up. As I was leaving the vet's, she told me his name: Descartes. I looked confused. She repeated the name again, "Descartes," along with, "like the French philosopher." I laughed. What a great name.

When I got home, I decided to brush up on Descartes' teachings. Maybe he was bringing me a message for a reason. As I read up on his philosophies, these learnings stood out:

1. "It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well."

Isn't there truth in this? Your mind, alongside everything else you have and are, needs to be used in the right way. For me, this is about training your mind to be positive, optimistic, and grateful. When you do this, everything in life becomes easier.

2. "Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power."

This is a great reminder for a recovering control freak like myself. There are so many things you can not control despite your attempts to do so. Yet, you can control your thoughts. You can do your best and believe in the best. When things go wrong or unexpected challenges arise, you can choose to stay positive and hopeful. Other than that, you must let go of the rest.

3. "In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate."

This was a great reminder for me to pick up my journal and free-write. I realized I'd tried to fill some of my restlessness with social media scrolling and Google researching. Needless to say, neither of those do much for you. Hence, hello Descartes, and his prompt to contemplate. For me, journaling is the best way to do that. What is yours?

4. "Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."

Sometimes problems can seem as challenging as attempting to climb Mount Everest. These times, it's important to break them down. Divide the problem into teeny-weeny ones, start working through them one by one, and seek expert help and emotional support when needed.

5. “He who hid well, lived well.”

This one stopped me right in my tracks. I noticed I'd been overindulging on social media and gotten slightly sucked into the negative sides of it. I see social media as the opposite of hiding. I see it as putting yourself out there as real and as authentic as possible. Hence, if your posts aren't doing as well as you'd hoped, your followers aren't growing, or you start comparing yourself to how well others are doing, it's easy to feel rejected. This feels even worse if you're already feeling down or stressed about other things in life. This is when it might be wise to listen to Descartes' wisdom from the 17th century and hide a little to preserve yourself. Then, when you're feeling better, you can get back on it if you so wish.

6. "Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare."

This made me laugh out loud when I read it. As a recovering perfectionist and overachiever, this is a welcome reminder. It's easy to expect too much from yourself and also from those around you. It's time to take it down a notch. It's time to focus on what is working and what there is to be grateful for (rather than the opposite). It's time to remind yourself you're doing the best you can with the knowledge you have. At the end of the day, that is all you can do.