The Stoics were Ancient Roman philosophers who claimed that the ideal state of mind was tranquility, which can not be achieved by pursuing enjoyable experiences, but by developing a calm indifference towards one's circumstances. This is a concept that opposes what Burkeman calls the modern-day cult of optimism, which forces us to try to find the good in bad situations. Burkeman explains there´s an alternative “negative path” to happiness, through the acceptance of the things that could go wrong.
Explanation:
I personally agree with this philosophy, as it´s very similar to the kind of strategy I found to deal with my anxiety. Instead of constantly worrying about what could go wrong, I trained myself to recognize which fears were a real possibility and changed my mindset to accept that not everything is under my control, and that is ok.
From the context, one can infer in this poem the world "cull" means "to pluck".
The speaker tells that, during spring, she cannot pluck the herbs. However, when autumn comes, she can rip the red leaves from the trees and give way for green new ones to blossom.
