A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
The Greeks had a word for this: apatheia. It’s the kind of calm equanimity that comes with the absence of irrational or extreme emotions. Not the loss of feeling altogether, just the loss of the harmful, unhelpful kind. Don’t let the negativity in, don’t let those emotions even get started. Just say: No, thank you. I can’t afford to panic.
Ryan Holiday • The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
"If you are injured and in pain, the path to mental peace can be traversed in a single step: Simply accept the pain as it arises, while doing whatever you need to do to help your body heal. If you are anxious before giving a speech, become willing to feel the anxiety fully, so that it becomes a meaningless pattern of energy in your mind and body. E... See more
Sam Harriss • Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
Both Buddhists and Stoics also encourage us to rehearse ‘non-attachment’. They share a goal of tranquillity, to be reached through detaching oneself from the passions that tie us to worldly cares. The Stoics, who wished to be active in the world rather than transcend it, tended to get more done. Both possess their wise sages who are deemed to have
... See moreDerren Brown • Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine
In Marcus Aurelius’s world, wracked by violence and turmoil, this thought would have been a comfort. You may be at war and every day facing life-threatening situations, but it is ultimately up to you how you respond to those pressures. Stoicism emerged from troubled times, and the perennial conflicts of that era go some way to explaining its enduri
... See more