A great deal of Stoicism is focused on our perspective. What lens do we bring to a situation? How do we make sure that those lenses actually allow us to see things clearly? What is our perception of a situation and what’s the gap between that perception and the reality of things? “It’s unfortunate that […]
Contempt seems like a weird emotion to start your day with. But we give you Marcus Aurelius who once wrote: “Like seeing roasted meat and other dishes in front of you and suddenly realizing: This is a dead fish. A dead bird. A dead pig. Perceptions like that—latching onto things and piercing through them, so we see […]
My wife and I live on a farm outside Austin, Texas. A few weeks ago, our favorite goose mysteriously went missing. It was almost certainly killed and eaten by some predator. A few months prior to that, our beloved pet donkey was seriously injured fighting off a mountain lion. Thankfully he survived, but it was […]
“Two words,” Epictetus says, “should be committed to memory and obeyed by alternatively exhorting and restraining ourselves, words that will ensure we lead a mainly blameless and untroubled life.” Those two words were ‘persist and resist.’ Today, we persist in our efforts—despite any obstacles we might face—and we resist naysayers, discouragement and distractions. We know that […]
Cato’s early Stoic training was as hard and uncompromising as he hoped to become. He walked around Rome in unusual clothing with the goal of getting people to laugh at him. He learned to subsist on a poor man’s rations. He went barefoot and bareheaded in heat and rain. He learned how to endure sickness […]
Ryan reads today’s daily meditation and talks to author Nancy Sherman about her new book Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, using Stoicism to work through emotional trauma rather than repress it, her experience teaching Stoic philosophy to the armed forces, and more. Nancy Sherman is a New York Times Notable Author. She has […]