Blog Posts

March 15, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

You can endure anything; act your best. (Discourses in Plain English I.2.)

Discourses is a collection of Epictetus’ conversations with his students and visitors, as recorded by his student Flavius Arrian. Discourses forms an excellent introduction to Stoicism and, in this series, The Stoic Gym presents Epictetus’ Discourses in plain English.

March 10, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
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Understand what is in your power (Discourses in Plain English I.1.)

Discourses is a collection of Epictetus’ conversations with his students and visitors, as recorded by his student Flavius Arrian. Discourses forms an excellent introduction to Stoicism and, in this series, The Stoic Gym presents Epictetus’ Discourses in plain English.

March 8, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

Training to be a philosopher

[In this discourse, Epictetus presents an idealized version of a philosopher, in the context of a student expressing an interest in Cynicism, which provided inspiration for Stoicism. Although the descriptions refer to a Cynic philosopher, it would apply equally to a Stoic philosopher.]

January 22, 2017 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

The Importance of the Dichotomy of Control

Epictetus classified things as being under our control or not under our control. His classic Enchiridion (The Good Life Handbook published by The Stoic Gym) starts with this basic idea of control.

December 13, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

You Will Not Have my Hate

You Will Not Have my Hate is a manifesto of a free man who chooses his reaction to the horror he faced on a Friday night. It is a reaction that I suspect most aspiring stoics would find hard to manifest.

November 18, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Workouts ||

2-Modeling-the-Sage-Exercise

Use this exercise as an all-purpose one. You can use it for contemplation when you have free time or use it anytime you face a problem.

November 12, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

Stoic Mockery

Stoicism grew out of Cynicism. Take Cynicism, cut out its ascetic aspects, add a few more flourishes, and voila! You have Stoicism. Diogenes the Cynic was a famous philosopher of his day.

November 12, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Workouts ||

1-The-Gatekeeper-Exercise

Use this exercise whenever something interferes with your happiness. The Gatekeeper exercise puts each negative thought to three tests before accepting it and letting into our mind.

November 5, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

What’s the core of Stoicism?

Stoicism has been in existence since 300 BC. Anything so enduring will have passed through different minds and is unlikely to have survived as an unchanging doctrine.

October 29, 2016 - Ancient Stoicism in Plain English
Tag(s): Book Excerpts ||

A Sixty-Second Introduction to Stoic Philosophy

You can be free, happy, and serene no matter what else is happening around you, if you understand this basic truth: some things in life are under your control, and others are not.