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Stoicism

Zeno of Citium, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca · c. 300 BCE

Happiness is a mastered mind: virtue, clear judgment and a practiced acceptance of what is outside your control.

The Dichotomy of Control

Week 2 · Calm in a busy day · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Spend your effort on what is yours to do, and let the outcome be.

Amor Fati

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Keep the fact, name the disappointment, and ask what it makes possible.

Memento Mori

Week 2 · Calm in a busy day · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Time is limited, so give the next hour to what matters.

Praemeditatio Malorum

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Rehearse one likely snag and one response, then stop.

The Four Virtues

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Each hard moment asks for one virtue first; notice which and do that much.

The Evening Review

Week 2 · Calm in a busy day · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

A short private review turns a foggy day into a record you can learn from.

Fate Permitting

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Plan with the clause “fate permitting”: keep the effort and hold the result loosely.

Preferred, Not Good

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

The lie is the part Stoicism would call the real good-or-bad.

The View from Above

Week 2 · Calm in a busy day · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Zoom out until a slight is the size it really is, then return to your duty.

The First Spark of Anger

Week 9 · The Stoic toolkit · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

The first jolt is not chosen; the decision to punish is.

The Grain Ship

Week 20 · Greek and Roman ways to live · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

Cicero held that a gain won by dishonesty is not truly useful. Test the profit against what is right.

Friends in the Good

Week 20 · Greek and Roman ways to live · School: Stoicism · Read it and try its questions now

For Cicero, true friendship rests on shared goodness, and no friend may ask you to do wrong.

The Examined Life

Week 1 · Questions worth asking · Read it and try its questions now

Stoicism asks what is yours to govern.