"A man standing by a spring of clear, sweet water and cursing it. While the fresh water keeps on bubbling up. He can shovel mud into it, or dung, and the stream will carry it away, wash itself clean, remain unstained.

To have that. Not a cistern but a perpetual spring

How? By working to win your freedom. Hour by hour. Through patience, honesty, humility."

Reminds me of something I once heard (paraphrased), "did you really have a bad day or did you have 10 minutes of undisciplined and over fixated thoughts lead you to your own demise?"

Controlling your reactions and actions is key and something I struggle with every single day.

it is out of your control. if it was in your control you'd be a billionare right now

Jorge Luis Borges The Immortal

Brian Greene referenced it in his latest book Until the End of Time (Must read)

Neither of them are stoic, but I found the quote fitting for this thread

I’ve read Meditations

10/10 book

A little meme today instead of some readings.

I always remind myself this

Telling people to read meditations but they never do

Such a short read too. It's a shame.

Lent my brother the Discourses and Enchiridion by Epictetus hope he likes it

“Why are we still lazy, indifferent and dull? Why do we look for excuses to avoid training and exercising our powers of reason?”

Feel singled out like a mfer. But inspired as well.

Stoic is such a cringe word

The word stoic has almost nothing to do with Stoicism the philosophy if you weren't aware.

Enlighten me some more

In

Stoicism basically all about recognizing your emotions and their potential to cloud your judgment and instead learning to bring your rational mind to the forefront so you can remain calm and make better decisions. It's not at all about suppressing them or remaining emotionless, rather its about being more aware of them and knowing when not to let them control your actions/cloud your judgment.

The seminal texts on Stoicism are rather short and could be read in a week or two. I highly recommend them as well as more modern takes on the philosophy by the likes of Ryan Holiday.

There's also this excellent lecture from a philosophy professor on Marcus Aurelius that is 45min long.

Can you explain this please🧐

If something is in your control (and the Stoics assert that only your own mind is in your complete control) then there is no need to worry about it, because you have complete control.

And if you do not have complete control then there is no point in worrying as it is utterly without use.

It's a bit like the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

"It (self-respect) is earned by being better than you used to be, by being dependable in times of testing, straight in times of temptation. It emerges in one who is morally dependable. Self-respect is produced by inner triumphs, not external ones. It can only be earned by a person who has endured some internal temptation, who has confronted their own weaknesses and who knows, "Well, if worse comes to worst, I can endure that. I can overcome that."

Not strictly speaking Stoicism but I found this quote from The Road to Character really motivating and it resonates true with me.

It's only when I tackled my own weaknesses and internal temptations that I could truly begin to have respect for my self.

From Meditations

3. Everything that happens is either endurable or not.

If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining.

If its unendurable...then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.

Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so.

In your interest, or in your nature.

4. If they've made a mistake, correct them gently and show them where they went wrong. If you can't do that, then the blame lies with you. Or no one.

I really like these passages back to back.

Something about our fellow humans and their ignorance being one of the hardest things to endure juxtaposed with a lesson on either teaching or forgiving/ignoring really motivates me to be a kinder person to those who seem to be able to upset me the most.

‘What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life- daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk or meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.’

Very powerful section from Man's Search For Meaning. Speaks for itself, really.

i fell in the trap of making the idealism that i live(d) by a thing that i wished to see people do too and that let create negative feelings about what other people do and their decisions. we have to be in acceptance of how people are and seek the understanding of their situation and with that stop the feeling of disappoinment in other people and rather look for a way to better their lives by making them realize they can decide differently and in favor of bettering their lives/experience of life

damn im confused over this and all this other stuff about life or what we can gather in infromation about it. if we try our best i believe its sometimes (might be more than sometimes) to just live and figure it out

StoikGang!!! These niggas can't get me pressed!

Crazy how Meditations wasnt even supposed to be released,just a journal type of thing from a roman emperor lol life is crazy.

You have the thoughts of a mf roman emperor on the palm of your hand 2000 years after his reign lol

The Practicing Stoic Audiobook 🤦🏾‍♂️ Highly recommend

das it bro keep cleaning that room