Check out the infographic or text below for a very brief timeline of the origins of Stoicism, the philosophy founded over two thousand years ago by Zeno of Citium! Around 301 BC The first Stoics The founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium, begins teaching in the colonnade in the Agora of Athens known as…
In his Meditations (5.16), Marcus Aurelius wrote: "The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts." In other words, what you frequently think about affects who you are and it's within your power to think mostly of things in line with your principles. If that seems too abstract, thanks…
This post covers the third and final week of the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge. Click below for the first two weeks! Week 1 Week 2 Day 15: Cut Out One Recurring Expense Of all the things that are, some are good, others bad, and yet others indifferent.…
This post covers week 2 of the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge. Click here for week 1! Day 8: Open Your Mind: Read Something by Someone You Disagree With “It is likely that you will ask me why I quote so many of Epicurus's noble words instead of…
In July I took the Daily Stoic Freedom Challenge and documented my progress here. It was an interesting experience, a challenge in discipline which I found worthwhile and rewarding. So when Daily Stoic announced their New Year New You challenge I was happy to sign up and use it as…
One of the stranger misconceptions about Stoicism is that it is an individualistic philosophy focusing only on self-discipline. The reality is quite the opposite - Stoics believe, as Marcus Aurelius put it, that humans exist for the sake of one another. The extension of that message is that we should…
When you've been criticised, remember this: everyone judges everyone else by their own standards. The judgemental “I can’t believe you did that” is a thin mask for “I wouldn’t have done that”. The spotlight is projected onto someone else’s actions, often in a denigrating way, when actually the judgement is…
As each calendar year ends, most of us scramble to list areas of our lives we’re failing in and set about resolving to address those failures. We look within at these times. What am I dissatisfied with? My appearance? Relationships? My career or lack thereof? How can I fix these?…
There is a wealth of content to choose from If you’re interested in learning more about Stoicism and benefiting from the philosophy’s principles. From books to courses to podcasts to videos, you can also take your pick of the medium you consume that content from. But did you know there’s…
The comedian David Mitchell was working on a jocular answer to the tricky question “What are things?” for his Guardian column when he wrote the following: “What is a call to prayer but a noisy sport without a scoring system? What is a drama but an unbelievably long comedy without…