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What Is Stoicism?

Philosophy to help you (and me): LEARN from the past, PLAN for the future, LIVE in the present.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Skill To Listen Properly

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. In one of his Discourses, the Stoic teacher Epictetus is asked by a disgruntled student why, in previous lectures, he has never spoken directly to the student. This sets the philosopher off somewhat. In response, he makes the point that just as it takes skill for a musician to play an instrument, it also takes skill to listen to the musician. Just as...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. It can sometimes feel that doing the right thing isn’t worth the effort. In a society that harbours so much indecency, being decent comes with burdens. The burden of being reliable is routinely being relied upon. The burden of being honest is always being expected to provide the truth. The burden of being kind is sometimes being taken advantage of. Of...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. We know by now that things won’t always turn out as we wish. We’ve experienced disappointment enough times to know that it’s an unavoidable tax we all pay in return for getting to experience the life of a human. It’s still frustrating at times, however. Even though we know we can’t change an outcome, we sometimes get stuck trying to do so. The answer,...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. The ancient Stoic remedy for the turmoil that comes with ruing the past or dreading the future is to be aware, alert, and sensitive to the present moment. Always. Not as a trick or a distraction technique, but as a way of life. The funny thing is, we have no choice but to be aware of it because the present is something we can never separate ourselves...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. Our relationship with Fate isn’t one we always see clearly. We often think we have much more control over what happens in the world than we actually do. There are so many modern conveniences and remedies, designed to counteract our complaints, that it can feel like we’re in charge of what happens and nothing can surprise us. But Fate is always...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. Solvitur ambulando is a Latin phrase which means "it is solved by walking." It’s often attributed to Saint Augustine in a refutation of Zeno of Elea's paradoxes of motion. Others have taken the phrase’s meaning more literally. The travel writer Bruce Chatwin, for example, passionately believed that walking constituted “the sovereign remedy for every...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. It was the view of ancient Stoics like Musonius Rufus that studying philosophy was the one way in which anyone could become good. Musonius believed this rule had no exceptions. From the lowest citizens to the highest kings and queens, a good life could be achieved by developing a love of Wisdom. One facet of Wisdom is the virtue of Courage. Courage is...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. Viewing the world from a different perspective—seeing it from far away, or as part of a bigger picture—can detach us from our worries and often make us realize that we shouldn’t be so worried at all. This was a regular practice among the ancient Stoics. Marcus Aurelius’s advice to himself was to “look down from above” and appreciate how small worldy...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. It has long been proven that no human being is perfect. No matter how any individual is idealized or idolized, the fact remains that they are always capable of making mistakes. When we put forth our best efforts in our practice of Stoicism, our target is, as with any endeavour we want to succeed at, perfection. And yet we must accept the inevitability...

The Micro Morning Meditations Your 3-part Stoic morning routine. Allan John @whatisstoicism 1. Morning Contemplation 🔈 Listen Now Good morning. Exploring the thinking of great philosophers such as Socrates offers a timeless lesson: true wisdom and self-improvement come not from gathering endless information, but from learning to ask meaningful questions and having genuine conversations with ourselves. In How to Think Like Socrates, Donald Robertson explores the enduring value of Socratic...