Ancient Stoicism in Plain English

February 7, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Remind Yourself of the Basic Principles

Whoever regards things that are not under their choice as good will be subject to envy and desire. They will flatter others and will be troubled. Whoever regards things that are not under their choice as evil shall be full of sorrow, will grieve, will lament, and will be unhappy.

February 3, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Train to Deal with Illness

1. The purpose of training is to prepare you to face hardships, including illness. 2. Illness is a part of life. We should have our judgements ready and available to us when we need them – as when we get sick.

January 31, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Restrain Your Desires

1. We constantly go after honours, but pay little attention to the nature of our judgements. 2. Constantly craving for more and more things leads to constant dissatisfaction. 3. The way out is to drop a few of your desires. Then you will get what you want.

January 27, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Train to Deal with Impressions

1. Train every day to deal with impressions 2. Good and bad comes from your choices. What you don’t have control over is neither good nor bad. 3. If you judge every impression by this criterion, you will see progress.

January 20, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Pleasures of the Mind are Superior to the Pleasures of the Body

Three things belong to human beings: body, mind, and externals. Of these, mind is the best.

January 17, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Where You Train, There You Find Results

1.Don’t spend time on one thing and expect results elsewhere. 2. A good person restricts his or her decisions to what is under their control. Such a person is invincible. 3. People tend to gravitate towards their natural object.

January 13, 2018 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Avoid Excuses and Train Everyday

1. Sooner and later, illness and death will overtake us all. 2. So, instead of complaining, we should accept them cheerfully. 3. Aim to improve yourself every day.

December 20, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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The main objective of Stoic Training

Impressions are the raw material we need to work with. By nature, we gravitate towards what is good and move away from what is bad. Our only concern is about our choices. Good and bad arise out of our choices and others have nothing to do with it.

December 16, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Three Aspects of Stoic Training

Stoic practices fall into three areas: desire, action, and assent. Of these the most important and urgent is to deal with our desire. We should always be able to get what we want and always be able to avoid what we don’t want.

December 13, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Your Choices Shape Your Excellence

What makes an animal excellent does not make a human being excellent. Your superiority as a human being comes from your ability to reason. Adorn yourself as befits a human being. Your beauty comes from the nature of your choices.