Hello there, This week, let us find inspiration with the slave turned philosopher’s words. Although the target quote is Discourses II 18 – 19, I will include a few other lines of Epictetus to put it into context: “[15]Today, when I saw a good-looking girl, I didn’t say to myself, ‘It would be nice to sleep with her,’ or ‘Her […]
Hello there, I thought we could continue this week with the theme of actively applying virtue externally, with some words of motivation from Marcus IV 17: “Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” Simple and powerful, let us never […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, let us look at the words of Epictetus from his Discourses III 23.1: “First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want and […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise let us look at some words from Epictetus Discourses I 4-32: “We offer the gods sacrifice because they gave us wheat and wine. But they have produced such wonderful fruit in a human mind, as part of their plan to bestow on humanity the true secret of happiness. Are we going to forget to […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise let us look at some words from Seneca on the Brevity of Life III.1: “We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.” As you go through your day there will be countless interruptions (cravings, emails, visitors, texts, […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise let us draw inspiration from Epictetus’ Discourses III 16- 1-3: “It is inevitable if you enter into relations with people on a regular basis, either for conversation, dining or simple friendship, that you will grow to be like them, unless you can get them to emulate you. Place an extinguished piece of coal next […]
Hello there, For this week let us look for inspiration from Seneca’s writings on the tranquillity of the mind: “The mind must be given relaxation – it will rise improved and sharper after a good break. Just as rich fields must not be forced – for they will quickly lose their fertility if never given a break – so constant […]
Hello there, For this week, let us get back to some very core Stoic precepts with words from Epictetus’ Discourses II 1-12: “So if you don’t want to be cantankerous, don’t feed your temper, or multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count the days on which you don’t get mad.” I dare […]
Hello there, For this week’s exercise, I wanted to look at our Cynic cousins and reign in our efforts a little bit. It’s nice to be motivated and work towards being a better person with a sense of urgency. This should be our modus vivendi after all, since we want to do good but haven’t the slightest idea on how […]
Hello there, I hope you’re enjoying this warm and beautiful (at least where I am) Sunday! Let’s get straight to it so we can get back to our respective necessities. For this exercise, let us look at some words from Epictetus Discourses’ IV 1-2 15: “It doesn’t matter what the external thing is, the value we place on it subjugated […]