Saturday, January 9 · 2 PM · Jessie Peterman Memorial Library (Floyd Branch), Community Room · Free

A thermometer becomes whatever the room is. A thermostat reads the room and holds its setting.

Most of us are thermometers most of the time, especially when life gets hard. The ancient Stoics figured out how to be thermostats.

Floyd author Scott Perry will teach the practice at the heart of his book Stepping Into Possibility: three questions that turn a hard situation into a next step. Then you’ll try it on something of your own, privately and on paper. Nobody is asked to share.

This is for you if you know better and do it anyway. You catastrophize a setback before lunch, agree to things you don’t believe just to end the discomfort, or become someone you don’t like for ten ugly minutes. You’re not broken, just hijacked. You don’t need any background in philosophy, and no toga is required.