The Stoic Magazine Library

Social media and AI judge us all the time 

In the series Black Mirror, there’s an infamous episode, Nosedive, where the main character is judged minute-to-minute by the people around her. 

One of the major causes of our unhappiness is the gap between our expectations and reality. Stoics argued that reality is not under our control. So, instead of trying to reset reality, we are better off resetting our expectations. Our contributing editor, Meredith Kunz tells us how.

In this insightful article our contributing editor Meredith Kunz points out how little we really need to flourish. Drawing from her own personal experiences, she points out that some of her most memorable experiences occurred when she was living in a two-bedroom cottage with a broken window—a window she couldn’t fix because she couldn’t afford to. 

Editor 

Gun violence motivated by hate has devastated far more than one community. Whether it is in New Zealand or Pittsburgh, people across the world are filled with horror and disbelief. 

Competing to prove ourselves 

My friend asked me a question about Stoic practice: “I know that in Stoicism, you don’t rely on external things for happiness. But if you stop counting on those things to make you happy, then is your default state to just be happy?” This really made me think. 

In spite of the stories we tell ourselves, “legends” can be broken by stepping further back, seeing the bigger picture, and realizing what we’re really dealing with when we see and experience the things all around us.