By Donald Robertson — 2020
The Meditations, by a Roman emperor who died in a plague named after him, has much to say about how to face fear, pain, anxiety and loss.
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CLEAR ALL
Can Stoicism teach us how to live? A lot of people seem to think so. They identify as “modern Stoics,” a movement that has gained traction over the past two decades, with thousands of members now congregating online and off to practice a self-help version of the philosophical life.
Stoicism holds that the key to a good, happy life is the cultivation of an excellent mental state, which the Stoics identified with virtue and being rational. The ideal life is one that is in harmony with Nature, of which we are all part, and an attitude of calm indifference towards external events.
Today I want to describe various Stoic exercises that you can do to develop a Stoic outlook on life. While this is obviously useful for the would-be Stoic, I think that everyone can benefit these exercises.
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The first line of Epictetus’ manual of ethical advice, the Enchiridion—“Some things are in our control and others not”—made me feel that a weight was being lifted off my chest.
Over 2,000 years after it rose to prominence, Stoicism is unexpectedly popular in Silicon Valley. Could tech's overlords have found a philosophy bigger than themselves?
In low seasons, while you sit in the waiting room of life, patience is a superpower. But by adopting these seven mindsets, you can run circles around life’s challenges.
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The Daily Stoic interviews Arianna Huffington. “People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills. There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . .
According to the Stoic philosophers Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, virtue comes through a proper understanding of nature, its processes, as well as one’s place in it.
Stepping back from emotional and physical chaos to reach a state of calm, clear-headed thinking is the bedrock of Stoicism, a philosophy famously practiced by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Learn more in this Knowledge@Wharton interview with author and psychotherapist Donald Robertson.