To put it blithely: When life has you in mount, the solution is not to flail around, a victim of your own passion and panic. Instead, stay calm, breath, and remember that you know how to fix this.
Continue readingTag: tranquility
Stop Complaining, Ryan
One could argue that it is this lack of reflecting, and of daily practice that has caused the second reason for my absence. The truth is, that over the last few weeks I have been a pretty rotten Stoic.
Continue readingMindfulness: one of many common threads
Separated by culture, language, politics and centuries, all of these philosophies have commonalities which seem ever present. These and religions I haven’t discussed today all contain ideas which ring true regardless of which god one prays to.
Continue readingDoes this make me happier?
By knowing what we can and can’t control, by loving fate, by knowing that our perceptions are not fact, and by filling our lives with mindfulness and gratitude, we can live effective lives. Effective and, crucially, happy lives.
Continue reading50 Shades of Red: The Stoics on Anger
Anger is a weakness. True strength is being able to hold yourself together and maintain the ability to reason regardless of what happens externally.
Continue readingLove Fate: An Antidote to Disappointment
The stoics ask us to go even further than acceptance though. They tell us not just to accept fate, but to love fate. Realize that in so many moments in our life, the thing that we thought a curse, is, in fact, a blessing.
Continue readingWhat me Worry?
After ejection … I whispered to myself: I’m leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus …
Continue readingThe Man in the Arena
We can become so internally focused, we begin to avoid the external; for fear that it will damage our stoic Ataraxia. We hermitize ourselves in order to avoid that which may cause us harm.
Continue readingMarcus Breaks it down: Perception, Action, Will
Marcus Aurelius makes it easy today. He lays out the three basic pillars of his entire take on stoicism
Continue readingWhat is the fruit of these teachings?
Stoicism teaches acceptance, not of all things (there is a time to fight, and I time to flee) but of most things. Because if we reflect on our day, our week, our year and if we are truly honest with ourselves, most of the times we got angry, or hurt, or defensive, in the grand scheme of things, it was over nothing.
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