“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own.” Marcus Aurelius Has anyone you know announced big news recently? An engagement? A pregnancy? New job? New house? Were you happy for them? Were you jealous of them? Did the news make…
Stoicism is a philosophy that dates back over two thousand years. Some of the earliest texts written by the ancient Stoics weren’t preserved long enough to read today, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of Stoic reading material for us to enjoy and learn from. From original material like Meditations, to modern-day interpretations like…
What Is Loneliness? “Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people - it’s the sense that you’re not sharing anything that matters with anyone else.” The above is a quote from Johann Hari’s book Lost Connections. Judging by the reaction to a recent piece, it resonates with a lot of people. It’s a sobering, perhaps…
It can be nice to have nice things. It’s such an effortless impulse to want nice things - a desire that keeps passing through the mind like a persistent pilot circling his plane over your house with an advertising banner fluttering behind it saying, “Your neighbour’s car is better than yours.” Before we buy nice…
When a person suffers from depression or anxiety, it is because they have been cut off, disconnected, from something they innately need but have lost at some point. That’s the conclusion Johann Hari draws in his book Lost Connections - that every social and psychological cause of depression and anxiety scientists have discovered is a…
Right now we’re all worried about something. The consequences of a past action, the status of a current relationship, how life will turn out for us years from now - whatever it may be, we worry that ultimately it won’t be favourable to us. But what is worry? The Oxford Dictionary says to worry is…
“I’m older than mosta you and I can tell you that the only real possession you’ll ever have is your character, that and your ‘scheme of life,’ you might say. The Manager has given every person a spark from His own divinity, and no one can take that away from you, not even the Manager…
If you have an interest in Stoicism, you'll know the names of the most famous ancient Stoics - Marcus Aurelius, Seneca The Younger, and Epictetus. If you enjoy the modern take on the works of these great philosophers, then you'll perhaps also know the likes of Ryan Holiday, Tim Ferriss and Donald Robertson, who have…
This is an account of day 21 of the 21-Day Daily Stoic Freedom Challenge, for accounts of other days please click here. In Theory The task for day 21 of the 21-Day Daily Stoic Freedom Challenge is to pretend you're watching your own funeral. Like some of the other tasks over the course of the…
This is an account of day 20 of the 21-Day Daily Stoic Freedom Challenge, for accounts of other days please click here. In Theory The task for day 20 of the 21-Day Daily Stoic Freedom Challenge is to create a pebble jar. Part of the inspiration for this task is the four-foot tower NFL quarterback…