epictetus

290 - Laughing With The Stoics: Finding Humor on the Path to Virtue cover

290 – Laughing With The Stoics: Finding Humor on the Path to Virtue

“It’s better for us to laugh at life than to cry over it.” — Seneca Discover how Stoicism embraces humor as a vital component of living a virtuous life. Uncover the wisdom behind laughing at life’s absurdities and how it contributes to resilience, joy, and a deeper understanding of Stoic philosophy.

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288 – Starting Stoicism

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” —Marcus Aurelius New to Stoicism? Embark on a journey into Stoicism, an ancient philosophy that teaches the mastery of self through control, judgment, and understanding emotions. Discover practical wisdom for living a virtuous life amidst modern challenges, guided by the timeless insights of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus.

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286 – Remember Death

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” — Marcus Aurelius How often do you think about your death? Consider how facing your mortality can make your life richer, fuller, and happier. Remembering death helps us appreciate the present moment and find contentment now rather than waiting for it in the future. It also sharpens our senses and helps us prioritize what truly matters. By contemplating our mortality, we can develop a bigger perspective on life and live each day to the fullest. So take a little time each day to think about your death and feel more alive.

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285 – Ambition or Contentment

“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well.” — Epictetus Learn how stoicism can help you achieve your goals while still finding contentment in your daily life. Discover the balance between ambition and contentment, and how focusing on the process rather than the outcome can lead to true happiness. Explore the concept of non-striving and how it can change your perspective on success.

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282 – Timeless Principles For Handling a Changing World

Discover the timeless principles of Stoicism that can help you navigate the ever-changing world. Learn to focus on what doesn’t change, embrace change, seek growth over comfort, practice gratitude, live in the present moment, cultivate inner resilience, and practice compassion and understanding. These principles will empower you to handle whatever life throws your way. Join the Stoic Coffee House Community for further exploration of these principles.

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279 – Not True But Useful

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” — Marcus Aurelius Can you hold beliefs that are not true, but are useful? The idea of “Useful, Not True” suggests that our perspective on something doesn’t have to be true, as long as it’s useful. Let’s explore the concept of useful beliefs and how they can shape our lives. #NotTrueButUseful #PerspectiveMatters

276 - The Zen of Zeno: Exploring the Art of Stoic Patience cover

276 – The Zen of Zeno: Exploring the Art of Stoic Patience

“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” — Zeno of Citium Are you rushing through life? Learn the art of patience and how it can lead to a more fulfilling life. Discover the power of being present and giving your full attention to what truly matters. #patience #mindfulness #selfgrowth

273 - The Four Types of Problems cover

273 – The Four Types of Problems

“We must not let the impressions carry us away so that we are not in control of ourselves, but we must receive them in such a way as to be in control of ourselves.” — Epictetus Understanding the different types of problems can help you face challenges more effectively. Learn about simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic problems and how to approach each one. #problemsolving #personaldevelopment

272 - Drop Your Opinions, Live Your Principles cover

272 – Drop Your Opinions, Live Your Principles

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” — Marcus Aurelius Do your opinions get in your way? Do your opinions cause issues in your relationships? What would happen if you weren’t so attached to your opinions? In this episode learn we should be willing to let go of attachments to our opinions and how doing so can help you live a happier life.

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269 – Getting Unstuck

“The limit is not the sky. The limit is the mind.” — Wim Hof Are you feeling stuck in life? Do you find it difficult to move forward and break free from the rut you’re in? In this article, we explore the reasons behind getting stuck and offer practical ideas to help you get unstuck. Whether it’s a lack of resources, dependence on others, fear, or burnout, we provide insights and strategies to overcome these obstacles and create positive change in your life. Don’t let stagnation hold you back – it’s time to break free and thrive! #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment #getunstuck

267 - Conquering Victimhood with a Stoic Mindset cover

267 – Conquering Victimhood with a Stoic Mindset

Playing the victim only holds us back from achieving true happiness and growth. By embracing a stoic mindset, we can let go of blame, take responsibility, and create a fulfilling life. Say goodbye to victimhood and hello to empowerment! #StoicCoffee #MindsetShift #PersonalGrowth

266 - Finding Balance: The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure cover

266 – Finding Balance: The Paradox of Pain and Pleasure

“If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.” —Epictetus Do you think that life should be all pleasure and no pain? In this episode we dig into finding balance between pain and pleasure and why if you want more pleasure, you may have to add more pain to your life. #PainAndPleasure #Balance #PersonalGrowth

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264 – Personal Maintenance

“Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” — Epictetus Are you always looking for the lazy solution? Do you try to find “one and done” solutions to the problems in your life? Today I want to talk about how most progress is not just about knowing what to do, but about doing it consistently.

263 - No Self cover

263 – No Self

“It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens.” ― Epictetus Do you think of yourself as a “self”? What if we had no part of us that was an enduring self? How would that change how you acted in the world? Today I want to talk about the idea of how we would view the world different if there was no self.

262 - The Inverse Law of Desire cover

262 – The Inverse Law of Desire

Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want. — Naval Ravikant Do you struggle with getting the things that you want in you life? Are you unhappy because you are unable to achieve the success you want in life? Today I want to talk about an idea call the Inverse Law of Desire, and how it may be keeping you from accomplishing your goals in life.

261 - What Others Think cover

261 – What Others Think

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” — Epictetus Do you worry about what others think of you? Does it keep you from doing or saying things that you would like do? Today I want to talk about thinking errors and projection and how we can use stoic ideas to clean up our thinking.

260 - Suffer Well cover

260 – Suffer Well

“Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.” — Seneca Do you give up on things because they’re hard? How willing are you to suffer for the things that you truly want in your life? Today I want to talk about how to get what you want, and why it’s important to learn how to suffer well.

259 - Enemies cover

259 – Enemies

“There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself – an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.” — Antisthenes Do you have enemies? Are there people that you don’t like? Are there people who don’t like you? May there is someone who makes your life more difficult? Today I want to talk about the importance of having people in our lives that challenge us.

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258 – Nothing Endures But Change

“Nothing endures but change.” — Heraclitus How do you handle change? Does it overwhelm you? Do you try to ignore it or do you embrace it? Today I want to talk about understanding change and how we can use stoicism to help us through some rocky times.

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257 – Face Your Fears

“While we wait for life, life passes.” —Seneca Are you afraid to take risks? Do you continually play it safe? Are you living a life that is comfortable but unchallenging? Today I want to talk about how we can push ourselves to take more risks and live life more fully.

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246 – What do You Deserve?

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” – Ryan Holiday Life is always throwing challenges your way. Are you taking them opportunities, or are just complaining about how unfair life is? In this week’s episode, we tackle a few questions that came in about the last weeks episode…

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245 – Whining or Winning

Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining. — Teddy Roosevelt Do you think that life is fair? Do you think it’s unfair? Are others “winning” when you are not? Today I want to talk about how we fall into unhelpful ways of thinking that reduces our ability to take responsibility for ourselves, and blame our unhappiness on the world outside of us.

241 - Mind Over Mood: The Stoic Art of Reframing cover

241 – Mind Over Mood: The Stoic Art of Reframing

“It is not the things themselves that disturb people, but their judgments about these things.” — Epictetus. “We see what we believe rather than what we see.” — Alan Watts. One of the things we talk about a lot in stoicism is that it’s our perspective on something that causes our distress. So how do we change our perspective on things? Are there tools that we can use to help us view things differently? Today I want to talk about some of the things that get in our way of broadening our perspective, and what tools we can use to help change our perspective.

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239 – Lessons Learned

The universe is change; Our life is what our thoughts make of it. — Marcus Aurelius. This year has been an especially rough year for many of us. I can honestly say it has been for me. I want talk about what I have learned over the past year, and ask you about the most important things you have learned.

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238 – Show Up

Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly. — Epictetus. How do you show up in the world? Are you acting the way you want to? Are you being the person you want to be? If not, why not? In todays episode, I want to talk about how to live with integrity and be the person you want to be.

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233 – Anxious Future

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable. —Seneca. Do you feel like the world is in chaos right now? I know that many of us feel like that. Spend a day on social media and easy to find all kinds of things wrong with the world. Is it that the world is truly more chaotic? Are things really falling apart more so than in the past? Today I want to talk about some of the reasons why some many of us feel like the world is in chaos.

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232 – QTIP

Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love. —Marcus Aurelius. How often do you take what other people say and do personally? How often do you feel like you have to “fix” someone else’s mood? Today I want to talk about emotional responsibility, and how it can lead a stronger sense of self and keep you from getting pulled into other peoples emotional mayhem.

207 - Resistance

207 – Resistance

Don’t demand or expect that events happen as you would wish them to. Accept events as they actually happen. That way peace is possible.  — Epictetus What if you stopped resisting what life brought your way? What if you could cheerfully accept everything that came your way? How would that change the way you showed up in the world? This week I want to talk about the importance of dealing with what is, and not what we think it should be.

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205 – Two Sides of the Same Coin

“Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.” — Epictetus One topic that I revisit on the podcast repeatedly is how important it is to control the things that we can’ and let go of the things that we can’t. For me, this is one of the most important lessons we can learn in our lives. In this episode, I want to talk about how we be more mindful of what we can, and what we cannot control.

203 - Belief Without Evidence is Wrong

203 – Belief Without Evidence is Wrong

It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. — William K. Clifford, Ethics of Belief We all like to think that we are wise, that our opinions are well thought out, and that we’re smart enough to spot when we have inconsistent beliefs. Today I want to talk about why believing something without sufficient evidence is wrong, and that idea that how we come to a belief or a conclusion is more important that the whether the belief or conclusion is correct.