Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year)11 Marras 2025

Day 129: A Stoic Guide to Happiness - The Art of Having Enough

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe

In this meditation, we explore one of Seneca’s most profound teachings on wealth, desire, and freedom:

“You ask what is the proper limit to a person’s wealth? First, having what is essential; second, having what is enough. If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor. If you shape it according to opinion, you will never be rich.”

Seneca reminds us that poverty is not measured by what we lack, but by what we crave. True wealth, he says, is found not in accumulation, but in sufficiency — in the quiet realization that we already have what is needed to live well.

Drawing on both Stoic and Epicurean wisdom, this reflection explores how simplicity leads to serenity, and how reducing our desires brings more peace than satisfying them ever could. As Epicurus wrote, “If you wish to make someone rich, do not add to his money, but subtract from his desires.”

Expect to learn:

How to distinguish nature’s needs from opinion’s endless wants
Why craving more leads to dependence, not freedom
How ancient philosophy offers a timeless cure for modern restlessness
Practical ways to practice the art of enough in everyday life

The Stoics and Epicureans both understood this truth: wealth is not the possession of many things, but the mastery of desire. When we stop measuring life by what’s missing, we discover that the cup is already full.

---

🖇️ Stay Connected:

Newsletter: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialMeditations

---

🦉 Additional Resources:

Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archive
Listen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(158)

Day 153: Stoicism and the Founding Fathers | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 153.“A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eterni...

4 Heinä 13min

Dying Daily: Seneca on Learning to Die

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Dying Daily.“He who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a...

29 Kesä 4min

Day 152: Courage in Practice—Cato the Younger on Being Incorruptible | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 152.There is a man almost no one talks about anymore, and a smal...

25 Kesä 10min

Dying Daily: "You Decide What it Means" | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Dying Daily.In today’s episode of Dying Daily, an occasional and muc...

17 Kesä 8min

Day 151: The Unlived Life—Marcus Aurelius and Jung on Becoming Whole | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 151.The Meditations are usually read as the record of a man who ...

10 Kesä 10min

Day 150: Stoicism and CBT on Training the Mind | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 150.“Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by the...

3 Kesä 10min

Day 149: Plato's Cave and the Cost of Ignorance | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 149.“All men want to live happily, but when it comes to seeing c...

30 Touko 14min

Day 148: In Defense of the Examined Life | Dying Every Day

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 148.In 399 BC, a jury of five hundred Athenian citizens voted to...

27 Touko 12min