Hidden Gems From Ancient Philosophers

There is nothing wrong with achieving monetary success; however, you should never compromise your principles in its pursuit. 

You are only as strong as the people around you.

You can control whom you interact with, so build a strong personal and professional coalition: hire people with positive energy and create a circle of friends from different backgrounds for engaging conversations.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), is a “problem-focused” approach to psychological therapy and is seen as very effective against depression, anxiety and every kind of unhelpful thinking.

Like stoicism, CBT encourages distinguishing between events and perceptions, and most CBT textbooks contain one of the core teachings of the Stoics: our perception hurts us more than the things themselves.

Practitioners may forget that some of the biggest determinants of our wellbeing are socio-economic and political if they follow too closely stoicism’s belief that circumstances can’t be changed and they must adapt. Doing so can needlessly perpetuate and aggravate harmful situations.

Misery can be influenced by your circumstances, but it is largely indifferent to them because it grows from within. Most of us have everything that we need to avoid it, but our untrained brains are prone to create it through anxiety.

This concept is easy to understand but it requires consistent effort and application. Keeping your brain in check demands that you understand and internalize it into day to day conduct.

We only have so much time and energy, so it’s good to eliminate the meaningless things we do. And then spread your remaining time and energy across multiple sources.

Balance work with other hobbies or personal projects, increase the number of people you can rely on, etc. Over a long enough time, something will go wrong, and having multiple sources of fulfillment to rely on will save you from complete collapse.