Get Yourself Under Control
The Daily Stoic9 Marras 2018

Get Yourself Under Control

It was Heraclitus--a favorite of Marcus Aurelius--who said that “to be self-controlled is the greatest of excellence.” Isn’t that the truth? It’s why we admire athletes and Navy SEALS and the Civil Rights Activists of the 1950s and 1960s.


To see someone being provoked with horrific language and threatened with bodily violence--only to ignore it. To see someone under incredible pressure and perform despite it. To see someone override their fears and physical limitations in service of their country. This, we know, is self-control par excellence.


The reason we study this philosophy, follow its precepts and practice its exercises, is to develop our own ability to control ourselves. To control our desires, our emotions, our bodies, and our minds. So that under pressure, under threat, under siege, we can be our best selves. We are working to get ourselves under control so that we can be excellent--we can be virtuous--and because we know that self-control is its own form of excellence.


It’s a hard thing to do, and that’s why we admire it.


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

Jaksot(2982)

If It’s Not Simple, It’s Bullshit

If It’s Not Simple, It’s Bullshit

There’s not much in Stoicism that’s particularly groundbreaking: Focus on what you can control. Be a good person. Manage your emotions. A lot of the famous Stoic quotes are pretty basic too: Epictetus...

9 Tammi 20192min

Find A Point!

Find A Point!

Peter Barton’s beautiful memoir, Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived, takes readers along a man’s search for meaning when he’s forced to confront mortality. Struggling for a reason to persist amid ...

8 Tammi 20193min

The Habit You Must Start This Year

The Habit You Must Start This Year

Why does Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations speak to us so? The answer, ironically, is that because the author had zero intention of doing so—in fact, he probably would have been mortified to know how well...

7 Tammi 20193min

The One Thing You Must Avoid

The One Thing You Must Avoid

Imagine this. You’ve worked for years on this novel—one that is indisputably the best thing you’ve ever done. You manage to get a publisher to buy it. You start to get rave reviews. You sell out your ...

4 Tammi 20193min

Do The Little Thing, It’s All The Matters

Do The Little Thing, It’s All The Matters

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Tereza, as the Prague Spring happens and the Soviets begin a military occupation, takes the time to rescue a crow that was hurt on the side of the road. Yet when ...

3 Tammi 20193min

It’s Not How Long You Live, It’s How You Live

It’s Not How Long You Live, It’s How You Live

In late December, Richard Overton passed away at the ripe old age of 112 and 230 days. When he was born, Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States, and the 13th Amendment, which ended slav...

2 Tammi 20193min

Keep These Thoughts At Hand, Everyday

Keep These Thoughts At Hand, Everyday

The Stoics were all about routine and concentration. Epictetus said that philosophy was something that should be kept at hand every day and night. Indeed, his book Enchiridion, actually means “small t...

1 Tammi 20194min

What We Do In Life Does Not Echo In Eternity

What We Do In Life Does Not Echo In Eternity

In the movie Gladiator, Maximus, the protege of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” It’s a powerful, inspiring line, (also tattooed on Lebron James’s arm) one the...

31 Joulu 20183min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
psykopodiaa-podcast
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-oivalluksia-rahasta-elamasta
rss-rahapodi
rss-rahamania
hyva-paha-johtaminen
pomojen-suusta
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rahapuhetta
rss-ammattipodcast
rss-lentopaivakirjat
inderespodi
rss-lahtijat
rss-bisneksen-pehmea-puoli
rss-sisalto-kuntoon
rss-turvassa-tyopaikalla
sijoituspodi
yrittaja-markkinoi