The Daily Stoic18 Feb 2019

This Is What Progress Looks Like

How do you know you’re making progress in this philosophy? It’s a question that every person has struggled with at some point in their practice, including Seneca. When he was writing his famous letters, he meditated on this theme. What does getting better look like? How do you know any of this is working?

Quoting one of his favorite philosophers, Hecato, Seneca comes up with a pretty good metric:

“What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.”

What a wonderful way of putting it. Not, “I am richer.” Not, “I am more famous.” Not even, “I sleep more soundly” or “I am handling a crisis well.” Sure those things are nice, and possibly even important. But to the Stoics, the point of this work was something simpler and more earnest: to be comfortable in your own skin; to be enough; to be a good friend to yourself.

A person who is a friend to themselves, Seneca wrote, is an aid to all mankind. They are kind. They are calm. They have empathy—for themselves and for others. They aren’t desperate. They can quietly spend time alone. They don’t need to pull others down to lift themselves up. They can stand on shoulders of giants, as Isaac Newton famously said in 1675, instead of stepping on their necks to secure advantage.

Use that as your rubric. Is the voice in your head getting nicer? Are you more still? Are you practicing good self-care? That’s what progress looks like. That’s what you deserve as a human being—and as a friend.

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

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(3087)

Who Can Teach Us More? | Stick With Just The Facts

We don’t control the role we are assigned by circumstance…but we control how we play that role.💡 We designed our How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide) as a personal field guide —part book club,...

10 Aug 8min

BONUS | The Daily Routine That Built Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius’ life looked nothing like ours, but the habits that kept him grounded still work today. In this episode, Ryan breaks down the daily practices Marcus used to stay focused, disciplined, ...

10 Aug 16min

11 Final Takeaways From The Odyssey

What can a 3,000-year-old story about gods, monsters, and shipwrecks teach us today? Almost everything. In this episode, Ryan breaks down some of the most powerful lessons from The Odyssey and the anc...

9 Aug 32min

Stop Judging People. Go Meet Them. | Peter Santenello

It is easy to judge people from a distance. It is much harder to reduce them to a stereotype once you have sat with them, listened to their story, and tried to understand how they see the world. In th...

8 Aug 58min

Ask Yourself For Peace (And You’ll Find It At Your Feet) | A Week Without Complaining

All you want is some quiet. All you want is some space. All you want is some calm. More than want it, you need it. You need it for your sanity. For your survival.🎶 Song lyrics: Future Islands - "A D...

7 Aug 7min

This Is Almost a Miracle | The Epictetus Lesson Kyle Carpenter Lives By

Epictetus’s work changed Marcus’ life. Both of them have changed Ryan's life. Both of them will change your life—if you let them.--Kyle Carpenter is a medically retired United States Marine who receiv...

6 Aug 11min

These Are Things You Cannot Buy

As Epictetus, the slave-turned-philosopher who inspired Marcus, reminds us, ”Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”🎶 Song lyrics: A Satisfied Mind (Bon Iver versi...

5 Aug 2min

The Marcus Aurelius Quote Tom Junod Can’t Forget

One sentence from Marcus Aurelius made Tom Junod circle it three times, star it, and dog-ear the page. In this episode, Ryan talks with the acclaimed writer about reading Meditations for the first tim...

5 Aug 12min