 As many of my subscribers know, I'm a big advocate of the Stoics and their philosophy of Stoicism. I often recommend people read the works of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Now, Stoicism, one of the main primary concerns is giving us tools that can help us live in accordance with nature. Quote-unquote, live the good life. Now, one of the tools that the Stoics give us is the tool of negative visualization. Now, undoubtedly, many of you are aware of positive visualization. Now, positive visualization, the main premise is that if we can imagine all the good things that we want in life, vividly imprint them in our head, we can get on the same frequency, feel their emotions, and manifest them in the real world. This is the backbone of many personal development books, especially the likes of The Law of Attraction and stuff like that. And I see it neither here nor there, and I can't really speak on that. However, I can speak on its antithesis, negative visualization. Now, negative visualization invites us to think of the worst-case scenario, to think of what can go wrong. And we're not doing this because we're dark or morbid or depressed. Matter of fact, we're doing this because we love life. Because through negative visualization, we can gain a greater appreciation of the things we have and a greater level of gratification. Now, to help you understand the concept of negative visualization and its implications, I'm going to do a little thought experiment. Let's say we have two fathers, and let's say both these fathers are just newly fathers. They just both had two daughters recently. Now, the first father is the average Joe. He doesn't partake in negative visualization. Matter of fact, he doesn't even know what that is. The second father reads the work of the Stoics, and he understands the tool of negative visualization. And from time to time, entertains worst-case scenarios. The first father, he'll hold the belief that his daughter will outlive him. Of course, that's natural. So he, at times, is more likely to not be as grateful for her. He might skip her rehearsal to watch the NBA Finals, or maybe not spend as much quality time as he should with her. Because after all, he's got many more years with his daughter. Also, he thinks. The second father, he entertains the idea of his daughter passing before he does. Although it's not a good thought from time to time, he entertains it, because he understands that life can happen. And because of this, he is more likely to be grateful for having his daughter. He's more likely to appreciate the time he has with his daughter. Now, let's say the worst-case scenario happens. Both fathers lose their daughters prematurely before their time. The first father is going to be devastated. He's going to remember all the wasted opportunities in which he didn't spend time with his daughter. He's going to come to him as a surprise. He's going to be shocked, because he did not see this coming. The second father, don't get me wrong, will still be devastated. However, he will regret nothing. He will understand that he entertained this possibility many times before. And that he spent the best time he could have done and did everything in his power while his daughter was alive. So he, although devastated, will be at more peace than the first father. Now, of course, this is an extreme case. But you can use negative visualization for anything. You can imagine that a hurricane destroys your house tomorrow. And that you're homeless. This idea, this thought will give you a great appreciation for the house that you do have. Or you can imagine that you get disabilitating injury. This will give you a great appreciation for your current health. And the reason we do this negative visualization is because as humans, we tend to fall for the traps of hedonic adaptation. As things get better, we take them for granted. They become bland. We don't stop and appreciate what we have. We assume that things can only get better and positive in the future. However, life does happen from time to time. And sometimes it comes as a big shock to those of us who are in fairy tale positive thinking mode. So negative visualization is a tool to improve your life. You entertain worst case scenarios so that you're more grateful and in turn more happy in life. Anyway, tell me what you guys think about that. If you liked the video, make sure you like the video. Subscribe. We're gaining all kinds of subscribers over here. And please leave a comment down below. I love our discussions, our dialogues. Until next time, peace.