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.
“Your principles can't be extinguished unless you snuff out the thoughts that feed them, for it's continually in your power to reignite new ones … It's possible to start living again! See things anew as you once did – that is how to restart life!”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.2
“A podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but in either place your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.6.25
“Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.48.2
“I am your teacher and you are learning in my school. My aim is to bring you to completion, unhindered, free from compulsive behavior, unrestrained, without shame, free, flourishing, and happy, looking to God in things great and small – your aim is to learn and diligently practice all these things. Why then don't you complete the work, if you have the right aim and I have both the right aim and right preparation? What is missing? … The work is quite feasible, and is the only thing in your power … Let go of the past. We must only begin. Believe me and you will see.”
- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.19.29-34
“So in the majority of other things, we address circumstances not in accordance with the right assumptions, but mostly by following wretched habit. Since all that I've said is the case, the person in training must seek to rise above, so as to stop seeking out pleasure and steering away from pain; to stop clinging to living and abhorring death; and in the case of property and money, to stop valuing receiving over giving.”
- Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 6.25.5–11
“Tranquility can't be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment – the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? It's because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide – common opinion.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 95.57b-58a