Premeditatio malorum

The “premeditation of the evils”—is a Stoic exercise that involves imagining everything that could possibly go wrong in our lives. The genius behind it lies in the fact that if we can imagine our worst fears and experience the emotions that are tied to them, then we are better suited to overcome them when they actually arise. By doing this exercise, you’ve already faced the worst case scenario in your mind; you’ve prepared yourself. Cognitive behavioral therapists call this catastrophic belief. If the client is encouraged to think over their greatest fears, they engage in a kind of mental exposure therapy, slowly but surely eliminating the belief entirely.