Marcus Aurelius

291 - Finding Your Genius: Flipping Your Flaws Into Features cover

291 – Finding Your Genius: Flipping Your Flaws Into Features

“Strive for excellence, not perfection, because we often find excellence in our imperfections.” —Harriet Braiker Discover the transformative power of viewing your traits through a new lens. In this episode we explore how what we see as weaknesses can actually be strengths in disguise, urging us to shift our perspective and embrace our unique attributes for success and happiness.

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.

288 - Starting Stoicism cover

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.

286 - Remember Death cover

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.

285 - Ambition or Contentment cover

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.

282 - Timeless Principles For Handling a Changing World cover

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.

281 - Self Discipline is Self Care cover

281 – Self Discipline is Self Care

Self-discipline is often misunderstood as depriving oneself of pleasure. However, it is actually a form of self-care that prioritizes long-term well-being and goals. By practicing self-awareness and making proactive choices, we can take better care of ourselves and make clearheaded decisions that lead to a more fulfilling life. Saying no and setting boundaries are also crucial in maintaining mental and physical health. Ultimately, self-discipline allows us to prioritize our own needs and thrive in all aspects of life.

279 - Not True But Useful cover

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

277 - Embracing the Unexpected: How to Handle Life's Plot Twists Like a Stoic cover

277 – Embracing the Unexpected: How to Handle Life’s Plot Twists Like a Stoic

“Life is a storm that will test you unceasingly. Don’t wait for calm waters that may not arrive. Derive purpose from resilience. Learn to sail the raging sea. — @TheStoicEmperor Do you fear the unexpected? Do you stress out when life throws you a curveball? Life is full of surprises. When we think that we’ve got things figured out and that things are going our way, something or someone pops up and throws a monkey wrench into our day to day that disrupts our lives and sends us spinning. Let’s talk about how to handle, appreciate, and even look forward to the unexpected events that life brings your way.

275 - A Courageous Mind cover

275 – A Courageous Mind

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt Do you live in fear? Learn why courage is the foundational virtue of stoicism and how to develop a courageous mind. Overcome adversity, gain wisdom, practice justice, temperance, and take responsibility. Cultivate integrity, honesty, self-discipline, set boundaries, and build resilience. #StoicCoffee #CourageousMind

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.

271 - Cultivating Connection: Stoic Insights on Loneliness cover

271 – Cultivating Connection: Stoic Insights on Loneliness

“As long as we live, let us cherish each other. For, when we die, the opportunity of aiding one another is lost for all eternity.” — Seneca Struggling with loneliness? The last few years have been tough, but it’s important to reach out and connect with others. Discover the insights on loneliness from a Stoic perspective in the latest episode. #StoicWisdom #Loneliness #Connection #StoicCoffeeBreak

270- Benefit of the Doubt cover

270- Benefit of the Doubt

“Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: to accept this event with humility; to treat this person as they should be treated; to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in.” —Marcus Aurelius Do you give others the benefit of the doubt? Giving people grace can make you happier with yourself. Learn why it’s important to trust and forgive others in this article. #trust #forgiveness #relationships

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.

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.

258 - Nothing Endures But Change cover

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.

250 - When Life Has Other Plans cover

250 – When Life Has Other Plans

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” — Epictetus. When life throws you curveballs, how do you handle them? Do you freak out? Do you roll with it? Do you look at it as an opportunity or a disaster? Today I want to about how to keep a perspective on life that helps you keep on moving when things don’t go as planned.

247 - There Are No Problems, Only Choices cover

247 – There Are No Problems, Only Choices

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. — Marcus Aurelius What if there were no problems in your life? I don’t mean that you don’t have things that are challenging, but what if, rather than fretting about something and framing it as a problem, you could just look at something as a choice to be made?

245 - Whining or Winning cover

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.

242 - How to Become Another Person cover

242 – How to Become Another Person

If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person. – Seneca. Are you living the life you want to? If you aren’t, do you know how to create big changes in your life? Today I want to talk about, rather than simply growing and getting better little by little, what if you transformed yourself into something completely different?

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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.

238 - Show Up cover

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.

237 - Self Confidence cover

237 – Self Confidence

Self-confidence is not something that can be given to you. It must be earned, through hard work and determination. — Aristotle Are you confident person? Do you have faith in yourself as person? Are you comfortable with who you are? Today I want to talk about how we often will self sabotage ourselves not because we don’t have the skill or capacity to do something, but because we let self doubt creep in and stop us from sharing our gifts and talents.

234 - Easy Life cover

234 – Easy Life

It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first. — Miyamoto Musashi. The path of least resistance is a terrible teacher. — Ryan Holiday Do you want your life to be easy? Do you complain, get stressed out, or upset when challenges come up in your life? Today I want to talk about why we should not only accept adversity in our lives, but learn to embrace it.

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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.

231 - A Model of Thinking cover

231 – A Model of Thinking

You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. —Marcus Aurelius. The stoics teach us that we have control over a few things – our thoughts, our choices, and our actions. In short, our will. So is there a way that we can get better with our thinking, and improve our outcomes? Today I want to talk about a model that can help us be more aware of how our thinking impacts us, and with that awareness, improve our lives.

230 - Our Human Contract cover

230 – Our Human Contract

Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. This is the equation. — Ibn Rushd Is it ever okay to hate someone as a stoic? Is there ever a time to have “righteous anger”? Today I want to talk about anger, hate and violence in our ever more divisive world.

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222 – Power Over Your Mind

The stoics are pretty clear that we control very little on our lives, but we do control the one thing that will make the biggest impact on our lives – our own minds. You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. —Marcus Aurelius

221 - Accept Life

221 – Accept Life

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. — Lao Tzu What does it mean to accept fate?

218 - Accept Yourself

218 – Accept Yourself

One of the hardest things for us to do, though it is one of the most important things we will ever learn, is to accept ourselves for exactly who we are.

212 - Friction

212 – Friction

“Anxieties can only come from your internal judgement.” — Marcus Aurelius We all have things in our lives that seems to stop us from completing things that we really want to do. Often, these things aren’t even all that big but end up being show stoppers nonetheless. Today I want to talk about why it’s important to pay attention to the things that get in your way, and some possible ways to get around them.

208 - Radical Candor

208 – Radical Candor

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” – Marcus Aurelius Are you afraid to tell others what you really think or how you really feel? In this episode I want to talk about the idea of radical candor, and how committing to being honest about what you think and feel is one of the most challenging but rewarding things you can do.

204 - Blame and Responsibility

204 – Blame and Responsibility

“If change is forced upon you, you must resist the temptation to overreact or feel sorry for yourself.” — Robert Greene How often do you feel that life is unfair? That something happened that you think should not have happened to you? Maybe someone hurt you and you want them to fix it? In this episode, I want to talk about blame and responsibility.

201 - You May Leave This Life at Any Moment

201 – You May Leave This Life at Any Moment

“You may leave this life at any moment: have this possibility in your mind in all that you do or say or think.” — Marcus Aurelius Do you think about death? Are you afraid of death? Do you take the time to think about what the world will be like when you are no longer here? Today I want to talk about why death is so important, and how when we avoid thinking about death, we are missing out on one of the best tools to live a fulfilling life.

198 - The Fear of Knowing What You Want

198 – The Fear of Knowing What You Want

“Everything, a horse, a vine, is created for some duty. For what task, then, were you yourself created? A person’s true delight is to do the things they were made for.” —Marcus Aurelius Do you really know what you want? When you think about what you want, does it excite you? Does it scare you? Are you pursuing what you want? In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about why it’s scary to know what you want, and why that’s a good thing.

196 - How To Win An Argument

196 – How To Win An Argument

“It is possible to curb your arrogance, to overcome pleasure and pain, to rise above your ambition, and to not be angry with stupid and ungrateful people — yes, even to care for them.” — Marcus Aurelius How do you win an argument? All of us have to deal with conflict in our lives. To think otherwise is completely unrealistic. But when we have an argument, what is our goal? What do we hope to achieve? To change the other person’s mind? To prove that we are right?

194 - Find Your Why

194 – Find Your Why

“So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?” — Marcus Aurelius One of the toughest things in life is to work at a job we don’t like. There are plenty of factors that can lead to job satisfaction. Many of them are outside of our control, but there are some that aren’t, and those are the most important ones because they can lead to true job satisfaction, and maybe to finding your purpose in life.

192 - Self-Sovereign

192 – Self-Sovereign

“Be content to seem what you really are.” — Marcus Aurelius One of the hardest things in our lives is to be completely honest with our selves and with those around us. Why is that? Why do we hide parts of ourselves or lie about how we feel, especially with those we love the most?

190 - The Stories We Tell Ourselves

190 – The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Support this podcast by becoming a patron! Support this podcast! “It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.” — Marcus Aurelius How often do you find yourself upset over something someone said? Maybe you’re stressed out over something that is happened. Maybe it’s the opposite and you’re extremely excited about some event happening in your life. Whatever it is, every event that causes some kind of emotion for you is all driven by the story that you tell yourself. One of the most important aspects of applying Stoicism in our lives is understanding our perspective...

188 - Do What You Can

188 – Do What You Can

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt When you find yourself in a challenging situation, how much time do you spend wishing things were different than they are? Do you get stuck in thinking how it’s not fair? What if instead of wanting to things to be other than what they are, we worked with what we have? What kind of change could you have in your life and in the lives of others if you instead focused on what you could do? How much time and frustration would you save yourself? Today I want to talk about how taking action, even if it’s just a small one, can help get you on the path of moving through challenges.

185 - Needy

185 – Needy

“People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.” — Marcus Aurelius Everyone has needs. If you are a living, breathing human being, you have needs. Why do we find it so hard to ask for the things that we need? So why do so many of us feel like we’re broken because we have needs? In this week’s episode we talk about neediness as something to be understood, not to be ignored.