This week, instead of analyzing your anger after a pause, you’ll repeat a wise maxim to yourself in order to rebut the impression. It may be helpful to review the maxims each morning, rehearse using them mentally, or create implementation intentions to help you remember them when anger rises.

During the past few weeks, you’ve already identified maxims or phrases that may be useful to repeat when you feel the first stirrings of anger. Write down some maxims to counter your angry impressions. If you’re stuck and need inspiration, review your rebuttals to anger from last week. You may also find it useful to review Marcus’s advice at the beginning of Week 25 for guidance.

This week’s method to cutting off anger is slightly different from last week’s. Last week you practiced recognizing the object of anger and your reasons for being angry, and then rebutting them. This week, you’ll counter your reasons for being angry by explicitly recalling basic Stoic principles or ideas around anger and its origins, in order to have these foremost in your mind when you need them—when the first signs of anger arise. You now have two methods for countering anger. One may work better for you than the other, and this week’s practice will allow you to see which is a better fit.

Note: You may have noticed that this week’s What to Do is more brief than usual. At this point we’re taking a step back from providing as much guidance as we have so far. You are deep into Stoic practice and by now should have a firm idea of what methods help you remember to practice over the course of the week and how you can tweak each exercise so that it may work better for you. We are giving less guidance than usual so that you can work out for yourself how to best implement the remaining exercises. This will also allow you to practice more effectively on your own, once you’ve reached the end of this book!

Which maxims did you find most effective this week? Did you prefer this method over last week’s, or vice versa? Write your thoughts about what works for you in dealing with angry impressions after a pause.