Stoic Meditations

Latest Episodes:

344. A surprisingly difficult simple precept Apr 15, 2019

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Seneca tells us something that may appear to be a no-brainer, and yet is difficult to apply: never believe that you can be happy through the unhappiness of another.

343. Happiness is an inside job Apr 12, 2019

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Cicero reminds us that happiness - meaning our satisfaction with our own life - is guaranteed if we don't hitch it to external events, but only to our own reasoned judgments.

342. The proximity of good people is good for you Apr 11, 2019

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Seneca reminds us that it is important to associate with good people. Their goodness is both an inspiration and a guide to make ourselves better human beings.

341. Repetition is useful Apr 10, 2019

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Seneca says that we should remind ourselves of things we know, because all too often we don't pay attention to them.

340. Approach your life all things considered Apr 09, 2019

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Modern Stoic Larry Becker, building on Seneca, advises us to approach the problems we encounter not one at a time, but within the context of our life treated as a whole dynamic project.

339. Seneca agrees with Ricky Gervais on the afterlife and the meaning of existence Apr 08, 2019

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Seneca points out that it doesn't matter if there is no continuation of life after death. Just like British comedian Ricky Gervais did recently in his series, aptly entitled "After Life."

338. Cut off anger at its inception Apr 05, 2019

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Epictetus treats anger as an addiction: we should suppress the urge as soon as we begin to feel it, and celebrate the days we have managed to stay away from this temporary madness.

337. How long you live is not up to you, how you live is Apr 04, 2019

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Seneca uses the dichotomy of control to get us to move away from our obsession with living longer, and toward paying attention to living better.

336. Marcus Regulus and the hard core of Stoicism Apr 03, 2019

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A good Stoic can be "happy" even on the rack. This phrase happened to be true in the case of the Roman general Marcus Regulus. And his story is worth pondering to see that we can be helpful and find meaning in so many small ways.

335. Virtue is like the sun behind a cloud Apr 02, 2019

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Seneca says that when negative developments affect our lives, virtue is like the sun behind a cloud: it keeps shining, and eventually dissipates the clouds.

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