After hearing author Ryan Holiday on a podcast, I was intrigued with his knowledge of Stoicism and just how the philosophy aligned with my core values. After purchasing The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living and Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius I decided to document my journey. Here I will share my anecdote while learning and reflecting on Stoicism and how I plan to apply it to my life.
“In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, 'Tell me what to do!' What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, 'Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance.' … In this way, if circumstances take you off script … you won't be desperate for a new prompting.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.2.20b-1; 24b-25a
“How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.18.8
“If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible — for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.19
“There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn't modest and easily intervened — but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won't be able to control when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along — it's easier to slow it down than to supplant it.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 106.2b-3a
“You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible — and no one can keep you from this. But there will be some external obstacle! Perhaps, but no obstacle to acting with justice, self-control, and wisdom. But what if some other area of my action is thwarted? Well, gladly accept the obstacle for what it is and shift your attention to what is given, and another action will immediately take its place, one that better fits the life you are building.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.32
“We like to say that we don't get to choose our parents, that they were given by chance — yet we can truly choose whose children we'd like to be”
- Seneca, On The Brevity Of Life, 15.3a