We Can Find The Gift In It | Reduce Wants, Increase Happiness
The Daily Stoic19 Feb 2024

We Can Find The Gift In It | Reduce Wants, Increase Happiness

We wrote an email over at Daily Dad (please subscribe if you haven’t!) recently which notes Robert F. Kennedy’s troubled childhood in the troubled Kennedy household. His family mourned the loss of his older brother. They put their hopes in his brother John. They fretted about his sister. His father thought that Bobby had little potential, that he wasn’t everything a young Kennedy should be, so the boy, as one Kennedy aide observed, was “overlooked.”

That was unfair. It must have been painful. Yet Kennedy’s biographer, Evan Thomas, would write that this turned out to be a gift, arguing that he “had been saved by neglect.” Because it meant Bobby didn’t have to deal with all the pressure. It let him develop at his own pace. It also allowed him to develop a conscience and an ability to empathize that most of the rest of the family lacked.

When we look at the life of Marcus Aurelius (if you want a biography try Lives of the Stoics or How To Think Like a Roman Emperor), we can see a similar pattern. His early days as a boy were defined by loss. His father, Verus, died when he was just three.


If you want to do more reading on these topics, we highly recommend Dying Everyday by James Romm (and we have a podcast with him on this topic). Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe is a great modern read on one of the biggest crimes of the 20th/21st centuries. And for more on the life of Seneca and Thrasea and some Stoics who did resist Nero, check out Lives of the Stoics (signed copies here).


✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.

📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook

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

Avsnitt(2909)

You Can Choose Right Now | The Portable Retreat

You Can Choose Right Now | The Portable Retreat

Someone has to take control. That someone is you. LAST CHANCE 👉 The Spring Forward Challenge starts TODAY! Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at checkout to get 20% off the Spring Fo...

20 Mars 9min

Break Through While You Still Can | Ask Ryan Holiday

Break Through While You Still Can | Ask Ryan Holiday

Just as seedlings must break through soil, we must break through our comfortable patterns. Nature doesn’t stay dormant forever—and neither should we.1 DAY LEFT 👉 Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter...

19 Mars 12min

This Is How We Get Death Wrong

This Is How We Get Death Wrong

You’ll never get to live what has been lived again. So why are you rushing? 2 DAYS LEFT 👉 Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at checkout to get 20% off the Spring Forward Challenge! ...

18 Mars 3min

Why You Can’t Focus (And How to Fix It in 25 Minutes)

Why You Can’t Focus (And How to Fix It in 25 Minutes)

You’re tired. You’re frustrated. You can’t focus. You’re busy all the time, but somehow it feels like nothing’s actually getting done. And that only makes it worse. More anxious. More scattered. More ...

18 Mars 25min

Stoop and Build ’Em Up | Stronger Stoics Together

Stoop and Build ’Em Up | Stronger Stoics Together

Failure. That's life. Then what?👉 EXCLUSIVE DEAL FOR PODCAST LISTENERS | Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at checkout to get 20% off the Spring Forward Challenge! Challenge yourself...

17 Mars 22min

You Can Get Rid of It | The Present Is All We Possess

You Can Get Rid of It | The Present Is All We Possess

Let go of beliefs…let go of worries. Shed what’s unnecessary. Clear away what’s holding us down.👉 SPECIAL OFFER | Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at checkout to get 20% off the Spr...

16 Mars 8min

Stoic Advice for the Problems We All Face

Stoic Advice for the Problems We All Face

How should a Stoic deal with bullies? What do you do when someone you love drives you crazy? And how do you stick to your principles when it costs you money? Ryan answers some big questions in this ep...

15 Mars 19min

BONUS | How to Reset Your Life (According to the Stoics)

BONUS | How to Reset Your Life (According to the Stoics)

Ready to write off 2026 already because it didn’t start perfectly? In this episode, Ryan talks about why the Stoics would say that impulse is not just unhelpful, it’s arrogant. Writing off today, this...

15 Mars 14min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-jossan-nina
rss-borsens-finest
uppgang-och-fall
rss-svart-marknad
avanzapodden
rss-dagen-med-di
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
svd-tech-brief
fill-or-kill
lastbilspodden
borsmorgon
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
bathina-en-podcast
rss-den-nya-ekonomin
rss-wallnor-pm
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
tabberaset