Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well;<ul><li>Abraham Lincoln is the most renowned politician of his time. Even at a profession like that, he was able to be compassionate, humble, open-minded and purposeful.</li><li>Principles and pragmatism are not at odds. Whether you live in the white house or in a jail or in a closed-minded small town, you can live well if you choose to. Plenty of other have! It's your principles that govern your way of life.</li></ul>

Pragmatic and Principled - Day 1

<ul><li>Do we treat the days of our lives like we treat our money? Because we don't exactly know how many days we'll be alive, and because we try our hardest not to think about the fact that someday we'll die, we're pretty liberal with how freely we spend our time. We let people and obligations impose on that time, only rarely asking: What am I getting in return here? </li><li>Seneca's maxim is the equivalent of cutting up your credit cards and switching to cash. He says to put real thought into every transaction: Am I getting my money's worth here? Is this a fair trade? </li></ul>

Don't Sell Yourself Too Cheaply - Day 126

<ul><li>Political winds could change in an instant, depriving you of the most basic freedoms you take for granted. Or, no matter who you are or how safely you've lived your life, there's someone out there who would rob and kill you for a couple of dollars. </li><li>Death is not the only unexpected interruption we might face - our plans can be dashed to pieces by a million things. Today might be a bit more pleasant if you ignore those possibilities, but at what cost? </li></ul>

The Benefits Of Sobering Thoughts - Day 121

"Here's a lesson to test your mind's mettle: take part of a week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food, and ask yourself if this is really the worst that you feared. It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead, for when fortune is kind the soul can build defenses against her ravages. So it is that soldiers practice maneuvers in peacetime, erecting bunkers with no enemies in sight and exhausting themselves under no attack so that when it comes they won't grow tired." - Seneca

Preparing On The Sunny Day - Day 35

<ul><li>You deserve a vacation. You work hard. You sacrifice. You push yourself. It's time for a break. Hop a plane, check into a hotel, and head to the beach - but tuck a book under your arm. Make sure you enjoy your relaxation like a poet - not idly but actively, observing the world around you, better understanding your place in the universe. </li><li>Maybe your goal is to make enough money so that you can retire early. Good for you! But the purpose of retirement is not to live a life of indolence or to run out the clock, as easy as that might be to do. That is not life. It's not freedom either. </li></ul>

What Time Off Is For - Day 51

<ul><li>Consciously consider whom you allow into your life - like someone who is trying to cultivate the best life possible. Ask yourself about the people you meet and spend time with: Are they making me better? Do they encourage me to push forward or do they drag me down to their level? Now, with this in mind, ask the question: Should I spend more or less time with these folks?</li></ul>"Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell you who you are." - Goethe"If I know how you spend your time, then I know what might become of you." - Goethe

Find The Right Scene - Day 214

<ul><li>The Stoics seek steadiness, stability, and tranquility - traits most of us aspire to but seem to experience only fleetingly.</li><li>These can be achieved by filtering the outside world through the straightener of our judgment. That's what our reason can do - it can take the crooked, confusing, and overwhelming nature of external events and make them orderly.</li><li>If our judgments are crooked because we don't use reason, then everything that follows will be crooked and we will lose our ability to steady ourselves in the chaos and rush of life. Proper judgment is the best way to steadiness.</li></ul>

If You Want To Be Steady - Day 157

<ul><li>Remember that it's not only the desire for wealth and position that debates and subjugates us, but also the desire for peace, leisure, travel, and learning. It doesn't matter what the external thing is, the value we place on it subjugates us to another... where our heart is set, there our impediment lies.</li><li>Because fate can always intervene and then we'll likely lose our self-control in response.</li><li>When it comes to your goals and the things you strive for, ask yourself: Am I in control of them, or are they in control of me?</li></ul>

Wish Not, Want Not - Day 199

<ul><li>Self-deception and ego are the sworn enemy of our ability to learn and grow. We will be unable to improve, to learn, to earn the respect of others if we think we're already perfect, a genius admired far and wide.</li><li>In this sense, ego and self-deception are the enemies of the things we wish to have because we delude ourselves into believing that we already possess them.</li><li>So we must meet ego with the hostility and contempt that it insidiously deploys against us - to keep it away, if only for twenty-four hours at a time.</li></ul>

Self Deception Is Our Enemy - Day 219

<ul><li>In the morning, remind yourself of what is in your control and what's not.</li><li>Before lunch, remind yourself that the only thing you truly possess is your ability to make choices.</li><li>In the afternoon, remind yourself that aside from the choices, your fate is not entirely up to you.</li><li>In the evening, remind yourself again how much is outside of your control and where your choices begin and end.</li><li>As you lie in bed, remember that sleep is a form of surrender and trust and how easily it comes. And prepare to start the whole cycle over again tomorrow.</li></ul>

The One Path To Serenity - Day 159

<ul><li>Today, we have forecasters and experts who can fairly accurately predict storm patterns. Today, we're defenseless against a hurricane only if we refuse to prepare or heed the warnings.</li><li>If we don't have a plan, if we never learned how to put up the storm windows, we will be at the mercy of these external - and internal - elements. We're still puny human beings compared with one hundred miles per hour winds, but we have the advantage of being able to prepare - being able to struggle against them in a new way.</li></ul>

Prepare For The Storm - Day 196

<ul><li>People tend to get ahead of themselves, thinking they've got it all figured out and are better than those that don't. It becomes so unpleasant when someone has to drop some knowledge on them. </li><li>But this is entirely avoidable. If the bubble is never inflated, it won't need to be popped. Overconfidence is a great weakness. But if you are already humble, no one will need to humble you - and the world is much less likely to have nasty surprises in store for you. If you stay down to earth, no one will need to bring you - often times crushingly so - back down. </li></ul>

Be Down To Earth, Or Be Brought Down - Day 37

<ul><li>You have two essential tasks in life: to be a good person and to pursue the occupation that you love. Everything else is a waste of energy. </li><li>How does one do that? Stoics makes it simple enough: say no to distractions, to destructive emotions, to outside pressure. Ask yourself: What is it that only I can do? Try to do the right thing when situation calls for it. Treat other people the way you would hope to be treated. And understand that every small choice and tiny matter is an opportunity to practice these principles.</li><li>That's it. That's what goes into the most important skill of all: how to live </li></ul>

Two Tasks - Day 80

<ul><li>A powerful perspective lies in ordinary or seemingly unbeautiful events. It takes an artist's eye to see that the end of life is not unlike a ripe fruit falling from its tree.</li><li>It takes a poet to notice the way "baking bread splits in places and those cracks, while not intended in the baker's art, catches our eye and serves to stir our appetite" and find a metaphor in them.</li><li>There is clarity (and joy) in seeing what others can't see, in finding grace and harmony in places others overlook. Isn't that far better than seeing the world as some dark place?</li></ul>

See The World Like A Poet And An Artist - Day 165

<ul><li>Most people resist the idea of a true self estimate probably because they fear it might mean downgrading some of their beliefs about who they are and what they're capable of. Don't fear self-assessment. It's equally damaging to value yourself at less than your true worth.</li><li>We underestimate our capabilities just as much and just as dangerous as we overestimate other abilities. Cultivate the ability to judge yourself accurately and honestly. Look inward to discern what you're capable of and what it will take to unlock that potential.</li></ul>

Accurate Self-Assessment - Day 207

<ul><li>This can be swiftly taught in very few words: virtue is the only good; there is no certain good without virtue; and virtue resides in our nobler part. </li><li>And what this virtue can be? True and steadfast judgement. For from this will arise every mental impulse, and by it every appearance that spurs our impulses will be rendered clear. </li><li>You become the sum of your actions, and as you do, what flows from that - your impulses - reflect the actions you've taken. Choose wisely! </li></ul>

The Supreme Court Of Your Mind - Day 9

"Hecato says, 'I can teach you a love potion made without any drugs, herbs or special spell - if you would be loved, love." - Seneca<ul><li>Love. Love. Love. Why? Because, as the Beatles put it, "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." Not just in politics, not just in tolerance, but in our personal lives. </li><li>There is almost no situation in which hatred helps. Yet almost every situation is made better by love - or empathy, understanding, appreciation - even situations in which you are in opposition to someone. </li><li>And who knows, you might just get some of that love back. </li></ul>

Always Love - Day 67

"An old man has no other evidence besides age to prove that he has lived a long life" - Seneca<ul><li>One day, our hours will begin to run out. It would be nice to be able to say: "Hey I really made the most of it." Not in the form of achievements, not money, not status - you know what the Stoics think of all that - but in wisdom, insight, and real progress in the things that all humans struggle against. </li><li>What if you could say that you really made something of this time that you had? What if you could prove that you really did live [insert number] years? And not just lived them, but lived them fully? </li></ul>

What Do You Have To Show For Your Years - Day 137

<ul><li>The mind is a muscle, and like the rest, it can be strained, overworked, even injured. Our physical health is also worn down by overcommitment, a lack of rest, and bad habits. Remember John Henry - the man who challenged the machine? He died of exhaustion at the end. Don't forget that. </li><li>Today, you may face things that try your patience, require considerable focus or clarity, or demand creative breakthroughs. Life is a long haul - it will mean many such moments. Are you going to be able to handle them if you've burned the candle at both ends? If you've been abusing and overworking your body? </li></ul>

Don't Burn The Candle At Both Ends - Day 141

Do now what nature demands of you. Get right to it if that's in your power. Don't wait for the perfect timing.<ul><li>There is plenty that you could do right now, today, plenty of small steps, were you to take them, would help move things forward.</li><li>Don't excuse yourself from doing them because the conditions aren't right or because a better opportunity might come along soon. Do what you can, now!</li><li>And when you've done it, don't overblow the results and always keep it in perspective. Shun both excuse and ego, before and after.</li></ul>

Start where the world is - Day 2

No one does wrong on purpose.<ul><li>The clearest proof of that hypothesis? All the time we did wrong without malice or intention. Remember them? The rude behaviour because we haven't spelt in two days. The time you acted on bad information, got carried away, forgot, didn't understand. The list goes on and on. </li><li>This is why it is important not to brand off people as enemies. Be as forgiving of them as you are of yourself. It may work wonders in your relationships. </li></ul>

Consider Your Failings Too - Day 25

"If the breaking day sees someone proud, the ending day sees them brought low. No one should put too much trust in triumph, No one should give up hope of trails improving. God mixes one with the other and stops fortune from resting, spinning every fate around. No one has has so much divine favor that they could guarantee themselves tomorrow. God keeps our lives hurtling on, spinning in a whirlwind"-Seneca<ul><li>No amount of prosperity, no amount of difficulty, is certain or forever. A triumph becomes a trial, a trail becomes a triumph. Life can change in an instant. Remember, how often it does today.</li></ul>

Someone Else Is Spinning The Thread - Day 92

You've endured countless troubles - it's enough already! <ul><li>How many things you fear have actually come to pass? How many times had anxiety, jealousy or frustration lead you down a bad road?</li><li>Letting our reason rule the day might seem like more work, but it saves us quite a bit of trouble. Your brain was designed to do this work - to separate what is important from what is senseless, to keep things in perspective. You only need to put it to use.</li></ul>

Take Charge and End Your Troubles - Day 7

<ul><li>Remember, the proper direction of philosophy - of all the things we're doing here - is focused inward. To make ourselves better and to leave other people to that task for themselves and their own journey. Our faults are in our control, and so we turn to philosophy to help scrape them off like barnacles from the hull of a ship. Other people's faults? Not so much. That's for them to do. </li><li>Leave people to their faults. Nothing in Stoic philosophy empowers you to judge them - only to accept them. Especially when we have so many of our own. </li></ul>

Judge Not, Lest... - Day 103

<ul><li>The guiding reason of the world - the Stoics called this the logos - works in mysterious ways. </li><li>There is a helpful analogy to explain the logos. We are like a dog leashed to a moving cart. The direction of the cart will determine where we go. Depending on the length of the leash, we also have a fair amount of room to explore and determine the pace, but ultimately what each of us must choose is whether we will go willingly or be painfully dragged. Which will it be? </li><li>Cheerful acceptance? Or ignorant refusal? In the end, they amount to the same. </li></ul>

Follow The Logos - Day 116

"Consider who you are. Above all, a human being, carrying no greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master." - EpictetusYour hidden power is your ability to use reason and make choices, however limited or small. Think about the areas of your life where you are under duress or weighted down by obligation. What are the choices available to you, day after day? Are you taking advantage? Are you finding the positives?

Your Hidden Power - Day 32

<ul><li>The person sitting next to you on the plane, the one who is loudly chattering and knocking around in your space? In these situations, you might feel it takes everything you have to restrain yourself from murdering them. </li><li>It's funny how that thought comes into our heads before, you know, politely asking them to stop, or making a minor scene of asking for a different seat. We don't just want people to be better, we expect it to magically happen, that we can simply will other people to change, with our angry stare. </li><li>Although when you think about it, it makes you wonder who the rude one actually is.</li></ul>

Don't Get Mad, Help - Day 69

When the problem arose for us whether habit or theory was better for getting virtue - Musonius thought habit to be more effective. <ul><li>There is no time to chop logic over whether our theories are correct. We are dealing with the real world here. What matters is how you're going to deal with this situation right in front of you and whether you're going to able to move past it. </li><li>Although theories are clean and simple, situations rarely are! </li></ul>

No Time For Theories, just Results - Day 5

<ul><li>There is only one thing that causes unhappiness. It's attachment. Attachments to a specific person, place, time, job or a lifestyle.</li><li>Attachments are what make it so hard to accept change. Once we have them, we don't want to let go. We become slaves to maintaining the status quo. </li><li>But everything is in a constant state of change. We have certain things for a while and then lose them. The only permanent thing is our reasoned choice. They are resilient and adaptable. The sooner we become aware of this the better. The easier it will be to accept and adapt to what does happen. </li></ul>

Attachments Are The Enemy - Day 109

<ul><li>Watching other people succeed is one of the toughest things to do - especially if we are not doing well ourselves. In our hunter-gatherer minds, we suspect that life is a zero-sum game - that for someone to have more, means that we might end up less. </li><li>But like all parts of philosophy, empathy and selflessness are a matter of practice. The stoics teach themselves to actively cheer for other people - even in cases where that might come at their own expense - and to put aside jealousy and possessivess. You can do that too. </li></ul>

Looking Out For Each Other - Day 61

Don't tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report.<ul><li>It's been reported to you that someone is speaking badly about you. This is the report - the report wasn't that you've been harmed. I see that my son is sick - but not that his life is at risk.</li><li>So always stay within your first impressions, and don't add to them in your head - this way nothing can happen to you.</li><li>As Nietzsche put it, "to stop courageously at the surface" and see things in plain objective form.</li></ul>

Stick with just the facts - Day 3

"All you need are these: certainty of judgement in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way." - Marcus Aurelius Perception, Action, Will. Those three sum up the critical disciplines of Stoicism. <ol><li>Control your perceptions. </li><li>Direct your actions properly. </li><li>Willingly accept what's outside your control. </li></ol>That's all we need to do.

The Big Three - Day 151

<ul><li>One of the hardest things in life is to say "No." To invitations, entertainment and obligations. Even harder is saying no to certain time-consuming emotions: anger, excitement, obsession, lust. These don't feel like a big deal, but they become commitment like anything else. </li><li>Saying no may hurt some feelings. It may turn people off. It may take some hard work. But the more you say no to the things that don't matter, the more you can say yes to the things that do. This will let you live and enjoy your life - the life that you want. </li></ul>

Be Ruthless To The Things That Don't Matter - Day 150

<ul><li>Most of society seems to have taken it as a commandment that one must know about every single current event, watch every episode of a critically acclaimed series, follow the news regularly, etc.</li><li>But where is the evidence that this is actually necessary? How much more time, energy, and pure brainpower would you have available if you drastically cut your media consumption? How much more rested and present would you feel if you were no longer excited and outraged by every breaking story of and potential crisis (many of which never come to pass anyway)?</li></ul>

You Don't Have To Stay On Top Of Everything - Day 177

<ul><li>What we consider to be harmless indulgences can easily become full-blown addictions. The little compulsions and drives we have not only chip away at our freedom and sovereignty, they cloud our clarity. We think we're in control - but are we really? As one addict put it, addiction is when we've "lost the freedom to abstain." Let us reclaim that freedom.</li><li>What that addiction is for you can vary: Soda? Drugs? Complaining? Gossip? Internet? Pornography? Biting your nails? But you must reclaim the ability to abstain because within it is your clarity and self-control.</li></ul>

Seeing Our Addictions - Day 155

<ul><li>Think about all the upsetting things you don't know about - people talking behind your back, the valuable things you would've lost without your knowledge. What's your reaction? You don't have one because you don't know about it.</li><li>It is possible to hold no opinion about a negative thing. Apply this to all scenarios. Practice the ability to have absolutely no thoughts about something - act as if you had no idea it ever occurred. Or that you've never heard of it before. Let it become irrelevant or non-existent to you. It'll be a lot less powerful this way.</li></ul>

You Don't Have To Have An Opinion - Day 187

<ul><li>Anyone can get lucky. There's no skill in being oblivious, and no one would consider that greatness. </li><li>On the other hand, the person who perseveres through difficulties, who makes it to their destination through hard work and honesty? That's admirable because their survival was a result of fortitude and resilience, not birth right and circumstance. </li><li>A person who overcame not just the external obstacles to success but mastered themselves and their emotions along the way? That's much more impressive. </li><li>The person who has been dealt a harder hand, understood it, but still triumphed? That's greatness. </li></ul>

Anyone Can Get Lucky, But Not Everyone Can Persevere - Day 41

<ul><li>Think of all the interests vying for a share of your wallet or for a second of your attention. Every human is pulled by these internal and external forces that are increasingly more powerful and harder to resist.</li><li>Philosophy is simply asking us to pay careful attention and to strive to be more than a pawn. Man is pushed by drives but pulled by values. These values and inner awareness prevent us from being puppets. Sure, paying attention requires work and awareness, but isn't that better than being jerked about on a string?</li></ul>

Cut The Strings That Pull Your Mind - Day 161

<ul><li>It's easy to blame our circumstances. One person curses that they weren't born taller, another that they're not smarter, with a different complexion, or born in a different country. It'd be hard to find a single person - who doesn't think they're deficient in atleast some way. </li><li>But there are positive qualities that you can develop that don't depend on genetic accents. You have the choice to, be truthful, dignified, endure, be happy, be free, avoid trafficking in gossip, be gracious. </li><li>And honestly, aren't the traits that are the result of effort and skill more impressive anyway? </li></ul>

Show The Qualities You Were Made For - Day 78

<ul><li>They say age is just a number. Rich people and health nuts spend billions in an effort to move the expiration date from around seventy-eight to hopefully forever. </li><li>The number of years we manage to eke out doesn't matter, only what those years are composed of. Seneca put it best when he said, "Life is long if you knew how to use it." Sadly, most people don't - they waste the life they've been given. Only when it's too late do they try to compensate for that waste, by vainly hoping to put more time on the clock. </li><li>Use today. Use everyday. Make yourself satisfied with what you have been given. </li></ul>

It's Just A Number - Day 129

I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent - no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you. - Seneca<ul><li>There's a benefit for so-called misfortune. Having experienced and survived it, we walk away with a better understanding of our own capacity and inner strength. </li><li>So today if things look like they might take a bad turn, why worry? This might be one of those formative experiences you will be grateful for later. </li></ul>

How Can You Know Whether You've Never Been Tested - Day 29

<ul><li>I'll be happy when I graduate when I get this promotion when I do this or that. Psychologists call this conditional happiness. Like the horizon, you can walk for miles but you'll never reach it.</li><li>Eagerly anticipating some future event, passionately imagining something you desire, looking forward to some happy scenario - as pleasurable as these activities might seem, they ruin your chance at happiness here and now. Locate the yearning for more, better, someday and see it for what it is: the enemy of your contentment. Choose it or your happiness, because these two are not compatible.</li></ul>

The Enemy Of Happiness - Day 195

<ul><li>Epictetus shows us the themes of tolerance and acceptance. Cleanthes and Euripides evoke destiny and fate as concepts that help ease acceptance. When one has a belief in a greater power, then there is no such thing as an event going contrary to plan. </li><li>What happens to us can seem random or upsetting, when in fact these events make perfect sense when our perspective is zoomed out, even just slightly. </li><li>Let's practice this today. Pretend that each event - whether desired or unexpected - was willed to happen, willed specifically for you. You wouldn't fight that much would you? </li></ul>

Maxims From Three Wise Men - Day 105

Robert Caro has written that "power doesn't corrupt, it reveals." In some ways, prosperity - financial and personal - is the same way. <ul><li>If your mind has developed a certain cast - the habit of panicking, then it won't matter how good things get for you. You're still primed for panic. Your mind will still finds things to worry about, and you'll still be miserable. </li><li>That's why it's foolish to hope for a good fortune. If you were to hope for one thing, you could hope for the strength of character that's able to thrive in good fortune. Or better, work for that kind of character and confidence. </li></ul>

What Will Prosperity Reveal - Day 52

<ul><li>Rubin Carter, the boxér was wrongly convicted of homicide and spent nearly 20 years in prison. He would say, "I don't acknowledge the existence of the prison. It doesn't exist for me." Of course the prison existed, and he was inside it. But he refused to let his mind be contained by it. </li><li>That's the power that you have too, in the midst of any and every kind of adversity, it is there. No matter what's happening to your body, no matter what the outside world inflicts on you, your mind can remain philosophical. It's still yours. It's untouchable - and in a way, then, so are you. </li></ul>

You Can't Touch Me - Day 55

<ul><li>It's easy to act - to just dive in. It's harder to stop, to pause, to think.</li><li>As Cato entered politics, many expected swift and great things from him. He was aware of this pressure - a pressure that exists on all of us at all times - and resisted.</li><li>Instead, he waited and prepared. He parsed his own thoughts, made sure he was not reacting emotionally, selfishly, ignorantly, or prematurely. Only then he would speak - when he was confident that his words were worthy of being heard.</li><li>To do this requires awareness. It requires us to stop and evaluate ourselves honestly. Can you do that?</li></ul>

What's Better Left Unsaid - Day 199

<ul><li>Socrates used to say that "nobody does wrong willingly." Meaning that no one is wrong on purpose either. Nobody thinks they're wrong, even when they are. They think they're right, they're just mistaken. Otherwise, they wouldn't think it anymore.</li><li>How much more tolerant and understanding would you be today if you could see the actions of other people as attempts to do the right thing? Whether you agree or not, how radically would this lens change your perspective on otherwise offensive or belligerent actions?</li></ul>

Seeing Things As The Person At Fault Does - Day 217

We're all complicated people. We have multiple sides to ourselves - conflicting wants to be desires, and fears. The outside world is no less confusing and contradictory. If we're not careful, all these forces - pushing and pulling - will eventually tear us apart.We have a choice: to stand with the philosopher and focus strenuously on the inside of the or to behave like a leader of a mob, becoming whatever the crowd needs at a given moment.If we do not focus on our internal integration - on self-awareness - we risk external disintegration.

(Dis)Integration - Day 208

<ul><li>A Zen master who had a beautiful cup would repeat to himself, "The glass is already broken." He enjoyed the cup and used it, but in his mind it was already broken. And so one day when it actually did break, he said, "Of course."</li><li>Devastation - that feeling of shock - is a factor of how unlikely we considered the event. No one is wrecked by the fact that it's snowing in the winter, because we've accepted (and even anticipated) this turn of events. What about the occurrences that surprise us? We might not be so shocked if we took the time to consider their possibility. </li></ul>

The Glass Is Already Broken - Day 108

<ul><li>All of us have used phrases like, "I'm going to be straightforward with you here... ", "I'll be honest with you... ", "No disrespect but..." Empty expressions or not, if you say you're being honest now, does that mean you usually aren't? </li><li>What if, instead, you cultivated a life and a reputation in which honesty was as emphatic and explicit as a contract, as permanent as a tattoo? Not only would it save you from needing to use the reassurances that other, less scrupulous people must engage in, it will make you a better person. </li></ul>

Honesty As Our Default - Day 66

<ul><li>You messed up a little. Or maybe you messed up a lot.</li><li>So? That doesn't change the philosophy that you know. It's not as if your reasoned choice has permanently abandoned you. Rather, it was you who temporarily abandoned it.</li><li>Remember that the tools and aims of our training are unaffected by the turbulence of the moment. Stop, regain your composure. It's waiting for you.</li></ul>

When You Lose Control - Day 205

<ul><li>It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to it's worth, for then you won't tire and give up. </li><li>If you give things more time and energy than they deserve, they're no longer lesser things. You've made them important by the life you've spent on them.</li><li>And sadly, you've made the important things - your family, your health, your true commitments - less so as a result of what you've stolen from them. </li></ul>

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff - Day 16

"But I haven't at any time been hindered in my will, nor forced against it. And how is this possible? I have bound up my choice to act with the will of God. God wills that I be sick, such is my will. He wills that I should choose something, so do I. He will that I reach for something, or something be given to me-I wish for the same. What God doesn't will, I do not wish for." - Epictetus<ul><li>And so it goes will all our ventures. No matter how much preparation, how skilled or smart we are, the ultimate outcome is with God or fate or luck or whatever you want to call it. The sooner we know the better.</li></ul>

Binding Our Wishes To What Will Be - Day 88

"Don't trust in your reputation, or position, but in the strength that is yours - namely, your judgements about the things that you control and don't control. For this alone is what makes us free and unfettered, that picks us up by the neck from the depths and lifts us eye to eye with the rich and powerful." - Seneca <ul><li>Once Alexander's way was blocked by a philosopher. "This man has conquered the world. What have you done?" asked one of his men. The philosopher replied, "I have conquered the need to conquer the world". </li><li>This just means focusing inward on acquiring power rather than outward. </li></ul>

How To Be Powerful - Day 93

<ul><li>Something happened that we wish had not. Which of these is easiest to change: our opinion or the event that is past? </li><li>The answer is obvious. Accept what happened and change your wish that it had not happened. The art of acquiescence - to accept rather than fight every little thing. </li><li>Stoics take us a step forward. Instead of simply accepting, they urge us to enjoy what has happened - whatever it is. A love of fate. </li><li>To wish for what has happened to happen is a clever way to avoid disappointment, but to actually feel gratitude for what happens? To love it? That's a recipe for happiness and joy. </li></ul>

Accepting What Is - Day 87

<ul><li>Why are you reading these entries? Not to pass your time - there are plenty of easier choices than reading. Because you are learning how to live. Because you want to be freer, fear less, and achieve a state of peace. Education - reading and meditating on the wisdom of great minds - is not to be done for its own sake. It has a purpose.</li><li>Remember that imperative on the days you start to feel distracted, when watching television or having a snack seems like a better use of your time than reading or studying philosophy. Knowledge - self knowledge in particular - is freedom.</li></ul>

Education Is Freedom - Day 149

How can people prove their words to be their own - by putting into practice what they've been preaching. <ul><li>There was a lot of borrowing among the philosophers. That's because they weren't concerned with authorship. More important, they believed that what was said mattered less than what was done. </li><li>You're welcome to take all of the words, feel free to tweak and edit and improve. Adapt them to the real conditions and put them into practice. Speak with your actions more than anything else. </li></ul>

Make the Words Your Own - Day - 6

"To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden" - Seneca <ul><li>You can take a bite out of any tough situation by bringing a calm mind to it. But considering and meditating on it in advance. And this is not true for just our day-to-day adversities but for the greatest and most unavoidable trial of all: our own eventual death. </li><li>Death could come tomorrow or in another forty years. It could be quick and painless or excruciating. Our greatest asset in that ordeal will not be religion or the wise words of the philosophers. It will be, simply, our calm and reasoned mind. </li></ul>

Taking The Bite Out Of It - Day 146

<ul><li>A sign on President Truman's desk read, THE BUCK STOPS HERE. As president, he knew that good or bad, there wasn't anyone he could blame for stuff other than himself. </li><li>As president of our own lives - and knowing that our powers begin and end with our reasoned choice - we would do well to internalize this same attitude. We don't control things outside that sphere, but we do control our attitudes and our responses to those events - and that's plenty. It's enough that we go into each and every day knowing that there is no one to pass the buck to. It ends with us. </li></ul>

The Strong Accept Responsibility - Day 98

<ul><li>When you set your mind to a task, do you always follow through? It's good if you do. But don't let yourself become a prisoner of that kind of determination. </li><li>Conditions change. New facts come in. Circumstances arise. If you can't adapt to them - if you simply proceed forward without adjusting to this new information - you are no better than a robot. The point is not to have an iron will, but an adaptable will. </li><li>It's not weak to change and adapt. Flexibility is it's own kind of strength. In fact, this flexibility combined with strength is what will make us resilient and unstoppable. </li></ul>

Flexibility Of The Will - Day 44

<ul><li>The notion of original sin has weighed down humankind for centuries. In reality, we're made to be good to each other.</li><li>You were born good. All of us have been made by nature, so that we can live free from error and nobly - not that one can and another can't, but all. You were born with an attraction to virtue & self-mastery. If you've gotten far from that, it's not out of some inborn corruption but from a nurturing of the wrong things and ideas. As Seneca has pointed out, philosophy is a tool to strip it all away - to get back to our true nature.</li></ul>

You Were Born Good - Day 86

If you start something and right away feel yourself getting lazy and irritated, first ask yourself: Why am I doing this? If it really is a necessity, ask yourself: Whats behind my reluctance? Fear? Spite? Fatigue?Don't forge ahead hoping that someone will relieve you or someone will explain you why what you're doing matters. Don't be the person who says yes with their mouth but no with their actions. Quality is much better than quantity.

When You Feel Lazy - Day 24

<ul><li>In all circumstances - adversity or advantage - we really have just one thing we need to do: focus on what is in our control as opposed to what is not. Right now we may be facing struggles but in just a few days we might do well that success is actually a burden.</li><li>Ultimately, this is clarity. Whoever we are, wherever we are - what matters is our choice. What are they? How will we evaluate them? How will we make the most of them? Those are the questions life asks us, regardless of our station. How will you answer?</li></ul>

Wherever You Go There Your Choice Is - Day 166

<ul><li>Heraclitus would shed tears whenever he went out in public - Democritus laughed. One saw the whole as a paradise of miseries, the other of follies. And so, we should take a lighter view of things and bear them with an easy spirit, for it is more human to laugh at life than to lament it. </li><li>Like Democritus, we can make that same choice. There is more humor than hate to be found in just about every situation. And at least humor is productive - making things less heavy, not more so. </li></ul>

Laugh, Or Cry? - Day 21

<ul><li>It's easier to quote, to rely on the wise words of others. Especially when the people you're deferring to are such towering figures. </li><li>It's harder (and more intimidating) to venture out on your own and express your own thoughts. But how do you think those wise and true quotes from those towering figures were created in the first place? </li><li>Your own experiences have value. You have accumulated your own wisdom too. Stake your claim. Put something down for the ages - in words and also in example. </li></ul>

Stake Your Own Claim - Day 138

<ul><li>We're going to get caught off guard from time to time. Not just by a terrorist attack or a financial panic - but also minor, unexpected occurrences. Your car battery dies, you don't feel well suddenly. These situations may throw us into confusion and disarray. </li><li>That's perfectly OK! It happens. A line of infantry men will face withering attacks. Musicians will experience technical difficulties. It just matters that they get into position as fast as possible. </li><li>The same is true for you today. The order and peace might be interrupted by a new scenario. Get a hold of yourself and find your way back. </li></ul>

Maintain Composure, Maintain Control - Day 46

<ul><li>Stories about lottery winners tend to share one lesson: suddenly coming into a great deal of money is a curse, not a blessing. In just a few years, many lottery winners are actually in worse financial shape. They've lost friends, got divorced, and their lives have turned into a nightmare as a result of their good fortune. </li><li>And yet the most common response from a cancer survivor, the person who went through the thing we all dread and fear? "It was the best thing that ever happened to me."</li><li>Funny how that works out, isn't it? </li></ul>

Funny How That Works Out - Day 111

<ul><li>Take a look at some of the powerful, rich people. Look at what success has cost them. Mostly? Freedom.</li><li>Their work demands they wear a suit. It will require - inevitably - realizing they are unable to say what they actually think. Worse, it demands that they become a different person.</li><li>Sure, it might pay well - but they haven't truly examined the transaction. As Seneca put it, "Slavery resides under marble and gold." Too many successful people are prisoners in jails of their own making. Is that what you want? Is that what you're working hard toward? Let's hope not.</li></ul>

Living Without Restriction - Day 216

<ul><li>Marcus Aurelius used to say that we don't own anything and that even our lives are held in trust. </li><li>We may claw and fight and work to own things, but those things can be taken away in a second. The same goes for other things we like to think are "ours" but are equally precarious: our status, our physical health or strength, our relationships. How can these really be ours if something other than us - fate, bad luck, death and so on - can disposses us of them without notice? </li><li>So what we do own? Just our lives - and not for long </li></ul>

You Don't Own That - Day 120

<ul><li>Today there will be endless interruptions: calls, mails, visitors. A philosopher knows that their default state should be one of reflection and inner awareness. That's why they protect their personal space and thoughts from the intrusions of the world. </li><li>Senaca reminds us that while we might be good at protecting our physical property, we are far too lax at enforcing our mental boundaries. Property can be regained - some of it still untouched by man. But time? Time is our most irreplaceable asset - we cannot buy more of it. We can only strive to waste as little as possible. </li></ul>

Spendthrifts Of Time - Day 125

<ul><li>"Hard winter training" is the notion that there is no such thing as part-time soldering (or part time anything for that matter). In order to achieve victory, one must dedicate every second into preparation and training. </li><li>The same is true for us. We can't do this life half heartedly. There's no time off. There aren't even weekends. We are always preparing for what life might throw at us - and when it does, we're ready and don't stop until we've handled it. </li></ul>

First, A Hard Winter Training - Day 28

<ul><li>It's never great to judge other people, but it's worth taking a second to investigate how a life dedicated to indulging every whim actually works out.</li><li>Ever wonder what God thinks of money? Just look at the people he gives it to. The same goes for pleasure. Look how quickly the partying of a young starlet turns to drug addiction and a stalled cancer.</li><li>Ask yourself: Is that really worth it? Is it really that pleasurable?</li><li>Consider that when you crave something or contemplate indulging in a "harmless" vice.</li></ul>

The Grand Parade Of Desire - Day 198

<ul><li>That fact that you can think, read this thought, able to reason things - all of this is what gives you the ability to improve your circumstances and become better. It's important to appreciate this because it's a genuine ability.</li><li>Take a little time today to remember that you're blessed with the capacity to use logic and reason to navigate situations and circumstances. This gives you the unthinkable power to alter your circumstances and the circumstances of others. And remember that with power comes great responsibility.</li></ul>

That Sacred Part Of You - Day 221

<ul><li>This is important enough that it bears repeating: a wise person knows what's inside their circle of control and what is outside of it.</li><li>The circle of control contains just one thing: YOUR MIND. Everything else, even your physical body isn't completely within the circle. There are physical illness not under your control.</li><li>The good news is you got fewer things you need to think about. There is clarity in simplicity. You've got just one thing to manage: your choices, your will, your mind.</li><li>So mind it.</li></ul>

Circle of Control - Day 160

<ul><li>Let's say someone has treated you rudely. It's natural to think: Oh that's how the world works, or One day it will be my turn to be like that. </li><li>But the proper response - indeed the best revenge - is to exact no revenge at all. If you meet other people's dishonesty with dishonesty of your own, guess what? You're proving them right - now everyone is a liar. </li><li>Instead, today, let's seek to be better than the things that disappoint or hurt us. It's awful to cheat, to be selfish, to feel the need to inflict pain on our fellow beings. Meanwhile, living morally and well is quite nice. </li></ul>

Revenge Is A Dish Best Not Served - Day 68

<ul><li>The dysfunctional job that stresses you out, a contentious relationship, life in the spotlight. Why are you subjecting yourself to this? Our adrenal glands can handle only so much before they become exhausted. Shouldn't you preserve them for life-and-death situations?</li><li>So yes, use Stoicism to manage these difficulties. But don't forget to ask: Is this really the life I want? Every time you get upset, a little bit of life leaves the body. Are these really the things on which you want to spend that priceless resource? Don't be afraid to make a change - a big one.</li></ul>

Protect Your Piece Of Mind - Day 190

"It's better to conquer grief than to deceive it." - Seneca<ul><li>The Stoics intended to teach us to face, process and deal with emotions immediately instead of running from them. Distraction might be pleasant in the short term but focusing is better in the long term. </li><li>That means facing it now. Process and parse what you are feeling. Remove your expectations, your entitlements, your sense of having been wronged. Find the positive in the situation, but also sit with your pain and accept it, remembering that it is a part of life. That's how one conquers grief. </li></ul>

Don't Hide From Your Feelings - Day 124

<ul><li>When people say change is good, they're usually trying to reassure themselves. Because instinctively we view change as bad - or at least we're suspicious of it.</li><li>The Stoics want you to do away with those labels altogether. Change isn't good. The status quo isn't bad. They just are.</li><li>Remember, events are objective. It's only our opinion that says something is good or bad (and thus worth fighting against or fighting for). A better attitude? To decide to make most of everything. But to do that you must first cease fighting.</li></ul>

Not Good Neither Bad - Day 90

<ul><li>Death is scary because it is such an unknown. No one can come back and tell us what it is like. We are in the dark about it.</li><li>There is a helpful consideration about death from the Stoics. If death is truly the end, then what is there exactly to fear? For everything from your fears to your pain receptors to your worries and your remaining wishes, they will perish with you. As frightening as death might seem, remember: it contains within it the end of fear. </li></ul>

Fear The Fear Of Death - Day 136

<ul><li>Turn your mind away from the things that provoke it. If you find discussing politics at home leads to fighting or your siblings choices bother you, why don't you stop making these choices your concern? </li><li>It's not a sign of weakness to shut them out. Instead, it's a sign of strong will. Try saying, "I know the reaction I typically take in these situations, and I'm not going to do it this time." and then follow it with: "I'm also going to remove this stimulus from my life in the future as well."</li><li>Because what follows is peace and serenity. </li></ul>

The Pleasure Of Tuning Out The Negative - Day 113

<ul><li>We have an irrational fear of acknowledging our own mortality. We avoid thinking about it because we think it will be depressing. In fact, reflecting on mortality often has the opposite effect - invigorating us more than saddening us. Why? Because it gives us clarity. </li><li>If you had only a week to live, what changes would you make? If you died but were resuscitated, how different would your perspective be? </li><li>There's no risk of getting caught up in petty matters or distractions. Instead of denying our fear of death, let's let it make us the best people we can be. Today! </li></ul>

The Cards We're Dealt - Day 123

<ul><li>Why did I do that? You've probably asked yourself. We all have. How could I have been so stupid? What was I thinking?</li><li>You weren't. That's the problem. Within that head of yours is all the reason and intelligence you need. It's making sure that it's deferred to and utilized that's the tough part. It's making sure that your mind is in charge, not your emotions, not your immediate physical sensations, not your surging hormones.</li><li>Fix your attention on your intelligence. Let it do its thing.</li></ul>

Think Before You Act - Day 192

<ul><li>We resent the person who comes in and tries to boss us around. This is because we are independent, self-sufficient people. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves.</li><li>Yet if someone says something we disagree with, something inside us tells us we have to argue with them.</li><li>We would never let another person jerk us around the way we let our impulses do. It's time we start seeing it that way - that we're not puppets that can be made to dance this way or that way just because we feel like it. We should be the ones in control, not our emotions because we are independent, self-sufficient people.</li></ul>

A Proper Frame Of Mind - Day 180

"He was sent to prison. But the observation 'he has suffered evil', is an addition coming from you" - Epictetus <ul><li>This is classic Stoic thinking, as you've gathered by now. An event itself is objective. How we describe it - that it was unfair, or it's a great calamity - is on us. Malcolm X went into prison a criminal, but he left as an educated, religious, and motivated man who would help in the struggle for civil rights. Did he suffer an evil? Or did he choose to make his experience a positive one? </li></ul>Acceptance isn't passive. It's the first step in an active process toward self-improvement.

You Choose The Outcome - Day 100

<ul><li>Today you won't control the external events that happen. Is that scary? A little, but it's balanced when we see that we can control our opinion about those events. You decide whether they're good or bad, fair or unfair. You don't control the situation, but you control what you think about it.</li><li>Best of all, an honest understanding of what is within our control provides real clarity about the world: all we have is our own mind. Remember that today when you try to extend your reach outward - that it's much better and more appropriately directed inward.</li></ul>

What We Control And What We Don't - Day 156

<ul><li>When someone has a strong opinion about something, it usually says more about them than whatever or whomever the opinion happens to be. This is especially true when it comes to resentment and hatred of other people. </li><li>A Stoic does two things. They ask: Is this opinion inside my control? If there is a chance for influence or change, they take it. But if there isn't, they accept this person as they are (and never hate a hater). </li><li>Our job is tough enough already. We don't have time to think about what other people are thinking, even if it's about us. </li></ul>

Dealing With Haters - Day 42

<ul><li>Some of the most powerful and important people in the world seem to have almost no self-awareness. We can be guilty of the same sin. </li><li>We ignore Socrates's dictum to "know thyself" - often realizing we have done so at our peril, years later, when we wake up one day and realize how rarely we have asked ourselves questions like: Who am I? What's important to me? What do I like? What do I need? </li><li>Now - right now - you have the time to explore yourself, to understand your own mind and body. Don't wait. Know yourself. Before it's impossibly late. </li></ul>

Know Thyself - Before It's Too Late - Day 133

<ul><li>The leader convinced that he might be betrayed acts first and betrays others first. Afraid that he's not well-liked he works hard that it has the opposite effect. Convinced of mismanagement, he micromanages and becomes the Source of mismanagement. The things we dread or fear, we blindly inflict on ourselves.</li><li>The next time you're afraid of some outcome, remember that if you don't control your impulses if you lose your self-control, you may be the very source of the disaster you so fear. It has happened to smarter and more powerful and more successful people. It can happen to us too</li></ul>

Fear Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Day 185

<ul><li>Philosophy is not some pursuit only for academics or the rich. It is for everyone to help us solve problems of life, not only theoretically but practically. </li><li>You're not reading these quotes for fun. Though they may be enjoyable, their aim is to help you sculpt and improve your life. And because we have but one life and one death, we should treat each experience like a sculptor with his chisels, carving until we set free the angel in the marble. </li><li>We are trying to do this difficulty thing - living and dying. And to do that, we must remember what we've learned and the wise words we've been given. </li></ul>

The Philosopher As An Artisan Of Life And Death - Day 119

"You are afraid of dying. But, come now, how is this life of yours anything but death?" - Seneca <ul><li>Most of us are afraid of dying. But sometimes this fear begs the question: To protect what exactly? For a lot of people the answer is: hours of television, gossiping, wasting potential, reporting to a boring job, and on and on and on. Expect, in the strictest sense, is this actually a life? Is this worth gripping so tightly and being afraid of losing? </li><li>It doesn't sound like it. </li></ul>

What Are You So Afraid Of Losing - Day 139

<ul><li>The Stoics didn't think that anyone could be perfect. The idea of becoming a sage - the highest aspiration of a philosopher - wasn't realistic. </li><li>Still, they started every day hoping to get a little closer to that mark. There was much to gain in the trying. </li><li>Can you actually live today like it is your last day? Is it even possible to embody completeness or perfection in our character, effortlessly doing the right thing for a full twenty-four hours? Is it possible for more than a minute? </li><li>Maybe not. But if trying was enough for the Stoics, it should ge enough for us too. </li></ul>

A Simple Way To Measure Our Days - Day 131

"Yes getting your wish would have been so nice. But isn't that exactly why pleasure trips us up? Instead, see if these things might be even nicer - a great soul, freedom and honesty, kindness, saintliness." - Marcus Aurelius <ul><li>Marcus reminds us that pleasure hardly stand up to virtue. The dopamine rush from sex is momentary. So is the pride of an accomplishment or a hearty applause from a crowd. These pleasures are powerful, but they wear off and leaving us wanting more. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">What lasts longer (and remains more within our control)? Wisdom, good character, sobriety, and kindness. </li></ul>

A Higher Pleasure - Day 63

<ul><li>Alexandria, the city in Egypt, still bears the name of its founder, Alexander the Great. How cool it would feel to have a city named after you? </li><li>Here's a thought: it wouldn't be cool. Because like Alexander, you'll be dead. You'll have no idea whether your name lasted down through centuries. </li><li>Instead of wasting even a second considering opinions of future people - focus every bit of yourself on being the best person you can be in the present moment. On doing the right thing, right now. The distant future is irrelevant. Be good and noble and impressive now - while it still matters. </li></ul>

Heroes Here And Now - Day 76

<ul><li>At the beginning or end of each day, the Stoic sits down with his journal and reviews: what he did what he thought, what could be improved.</li><li>Keep your own journal, whether it's saved on a computer or in a little book. Be unflinching in your assessments. Notice what contributed to your happiness and what detracted from it. Write down what you'd like to work on or quotes that you like.</li><li>By making the effort to record such thoughts, you're less likely to forget them. An added bonus: you'll have a running tally to track your progress too.</li></ul>

The Day In Review - Day 169

<ul><li>All things die. Not just people but companies, kingdoms, religions, and ideas - eventually. The Roman republic lasted 450 years. The Roman Empire lasted 500 years. The longest recorded life of a human being is 122 years. </li><li>The average life expectancy in the United States is over seventy-eight. In other countries and eras, it has been more and it has been less. But in the end, we all succumb, as Marcus said, to the rhythm of events-of which there is always a final, determined beat. There is no need to dwell on this fact, but there is no point in ignoring it either. </li></ul>

The Beat Goes On - Day 128

"Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue." - Zeno<ul><li>You can always get up after you fall, but remember, what has been said can never be unsaid. Especially cruel and hurtful things. </li><li>So it's always better to think twice before you say something which makes you regret a lifetime. Cruel words are like double-edged swords. It's going to hurt both sides. Choose wisely. </li></ul>

Words Can't Be Unsaid - Day 60

"Don't behave as if you're destined to live forever. What's fated hangs over you. As long as you live and while you can, become good now." - Marcus Aurelius <ul><li>The reality is, a sword is hanging over all of us - life can be taken from us at any moment. And that threat can send us in one of two directions: we can fear and dread it, or we can use it to motivate us. To do good, to be good. Because the sword is dangling, and there's nothing else to be concerned with. Would you rather it catch you in the middle of some shameful, selfish act or during your wait to be good in the future? </li></ul>

The Sword Dangles Over You - Day 122

Try praying differently, and see what happens: instead of a 'way to get rid of him,' try asking for 'a way to not crave his demise.' <ul><li>Prayer has a religious connotation, but in life we all find ourselves hoping and asking for things. </li><li>We want divine intervention so that our lives will magically be easier. But what about asking for fortitude and strength so you can do what you need to do? What if you sought clarity on what you do control, what is already within your power? You might find your prayers have already been answered. </li></ul>

A Different Way To Pray - Day 39

<ul><li>How often are we asked a simple question like "Who are you?" and or "What do you do?" or "Where are you from?" Considering it a superficial question - if we even consider it at all - we don't bother with more than a superficial answer.</li><li>But, gun to their head, most people couldn't give much in the way of a substantive answer. Could you? Have you taken the time to get clarity about who you are and what you stand for? Or are you too busy chasing unimportant things, mimicking the wrong influences, and following disappointing or un fulfilling or non-existent paths?</li></ul>

Where, Who, What, And Why? - Day 153

<ul><li>Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people. </li><li>But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours, then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you, you will find no one to blame or accuse you, you will do nothing against your will, you will have no enemy, no one will harm you, because no harm can affect you. </li></ul>

Focus On What Is Yours Alone - Day 30

From the team that brought you The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, a beautiful daily devotional of Stoic meditations—an instant Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller. Why have history's greatest minds—from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson, along with today's top performers from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities—embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers 366 days of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the playwright Seneca, or slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus, as well as lesser-known luminaries like Zeno, Cleanthes, and Musonius Rufus. Every day of the year you'll find one of their pithy, powerful quotations, as well as historical anecdotes, provocative commentary, and a helpful glossary of Greek terms. By following these teachings over the course of a year (and, indeed, for years to come) you'll find the serenity, self-knowledge, and resilience you need to live well.

The Daily Stoic

"We are like pellets of incense falling on the altar. Some collapse sooner, others later, but it makes no difference."-Marcus Aurelius <ul><li>Measuring ourselves against others makes acceptance difficult, because we want what they have, not what we happen to have. But that makes no difference. </li><li>Some might see this line from Marcus as pessimistic, whereas others see it as optimistic. It's really just truth. We're all here and we're all going to leave this earth eventually, so let's not concern ourselves with petty differences in the meantime. We have too much to do. </li></ul>

The Altar Of No Difference - Day 112