Friendship, love, family and work bring some responsibilities. Resentful and angry, we may at times think that it’s all just chores; all work and no play. Before you give in to bitterness, ask yourself: are you really compelled to do even half of those things you sometimes feel like you must do? Do others really [...]
Month: October 2017
Big Questions
Here are some very fundamental, big questions. Go ahead, give them a go. Even better if you write down your answers, and return to them once in a while. Task #1 Answer these. What is ultimately the most important thing in life to you? What do you want your life to 'stand for' or [...]
Whatever anyone does or says
"Whatever anyone does or says, I must be a good man. It is as if an emerald, or gold or purple, were always saying: ‘Whatever anyone does or says, I must be an emerald, and keep my own colour.’" - Marcus Aurelius This is always a timely reminder. It again boils down to the [...]
Today’s Meditation: watch “Optimistic Nihilism”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14 In this video-game of life, time is an issue. Time may be The Issue, since it will inevitably separate you from some things soon, and from all things eventually. If you have little children, you will very soon lose them by them growing up and going to school, becoming teenagers, and then [...]
Play it like a video-game
"Use only the appropriate actions of pursuit and avoidance; and even these lightly, and with gentleness and reservation. “ - Epictetus Today, as I was planning my day’s activities, I wrote down a little list. It included a bunch of things that I was hoping to get done during the day, some chores and also some [...]
Five-star rating
...and the memory of everything is rapidly buried in eternity - Marcus Aurelius Give yourself five stars for everything. Just today. Regardless of what else took place, if you were today wise enough to take a while to meditate, a while to walk or run, a while to read, a while to sit in the [...]
Meditate on your pain
"You don't love yourself enough. Or you'd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, [...]
Weapons of Reason – you got them!
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. - Marcus Aurelius If you were not born yesterday, you have already been in a pickle, gone around the block once or twice, been bullied by someone, gotten [...]
Stoic Week 2017 – Sunday
Sunday’s theme was resilience. “Be like the headland, on which the waves break constantly, which still stands firm, while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, [...]
Stoic Week 2017 – Saturday
Saturday's about nature and our place in it. To me, at least at this moment in time, Stoicism feels like philosophical home. I am quite convinced that I will never subscribe 100% to any ism, and that’s how I want to keep it. But still, so many Stoic teachings have hit the bullseye in my [...]
Fate Permitting 