It’s Not About The One-Liners

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0:54I'm picking my kids up from school today and then doing our weekly routine, which is I take them over to Whole Foods. and we get all our groceries for the week. Then we have dinner. It's one of their favorite things to do. It's one of my favorite things to do. And then my wife loves it because she doesn't have to take care of it. This holiday season, whether you're a guest or hosting the big dinner Whole Foods Market has what you need to delight everyone at your table. They even have heat and eat sides from the prepared foods department. You can make Whole Foods your one-stop shop. Everything follows Whole Foods Market's strict ingredients standards so you know it'll be delicious and good for you.

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1:40Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2 ,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. And for more, you can visit us, dailystoic.com.

2:03It's not about the one-liners. There's a story the Stoics like to repeat about a general who lost his entire family to the enemy. It was devastating news, discovered all at once, like that scene in Gladiator where Maximus rushes back to his farm only to find everything he loved had been destroyed and desecrated. All expected the general to fall to pieces. Instead, he gathered himself and, as Epictetus tells us, said, I knew they were mortal when I had them. And then he carried on living as best he could. It's an epic and tragic and in its own way inspiring line. But we should understand that stoicism is far more than quips.

2:39It has to be because no one could possibly withstand an event like that with simply an astute philosophical observation. Stoicism is a rich set of ideas and then it is real work. Liking a social media post, not being overwhelmed by the moment is one thing, but the real work is what comes after. It's returning to stoicism again and again. It's washing ourselves in its messages, its characters, its beauty, day after day, letting it wash over us again and again. Seneca, who wrote three beautiful essays on loss and heartache called Consolations, would talk about how grief was something that had to be conquered, not deceived.

3:16Emotions and experiences have to be understood and processed and integrated. You can't just stuff it down. You can't just dismiss it with a joke. You can't just pretend it's not there. You can't just carry around a memento mori coin and claim to be a steward of stoicism. You can't just expect memento mori to work as a magical incantation that protects you from the grievous wounds of fate. And we know all about this impulse here at Daily Stoic because that's the stuff that we post or the emails that we write about, and that's what draws people in. But if they stop there, that's a failure. That's actually one of the reasons we're relaunching Stoicism 101, this course we have called Ancient Philosophy for Your Actual Life.

3:54It's great that you're subscribed to this email, but what next? How do you take the next step? How are you applying the ideas? Let's go back to that story of the general, because what really matters in his story is the stuff that's left out. How did he move forward? What was he doing the next day, the next month? Did he continue to practice and apply this self-control and poise? Marcus Aurelius didn't just write about stoicism in his journal. He lived it. He practiced the self-discipline and mindfulness that he wrote about day after day, week after week. And the same goes for you. Just reminding yourself to read an article or watch a video, well, is not enough.

4:33The one-liners might be what draw people to stoicism, but it's about practicing it, applying it, living it. It's about returning to it day after day, making it a priority. Just reminding himself that his loved ones were going to die at some point would have hardly been sufficient to process and integrate and carry on after a tragedy like that. And so it goes for you with whatever pain and adversity you're dealing with. A stoic sense of humor, a tough exterior, these are only the beginnings of the processing. You can't stop there. It's going to be a long, hard slog and don't settle for quips. Don't stop at the surface.

5:06Go deep. Apply. Likes and reposts don't make you a stoic, but practice can. And if you want to learn how to practice more and actually apply stoicism to your everyday life, well, that's what Stoicism 101 is all about. Ancient philosophy for your actual life. It's the best practices and routines of stoicism delivered in 14 days. How have these great stoic leaders applied stoic philosophy in their life? How can you apply it in yours? That's what we're going to answer in 101. And actually, I answer those questions in the sort of office hours, deep dive sessions we do. There'll be two live stoicism chats with me.

5:42If you're a beginner, you've been studying stoicism for years, there's a bunch of stuff you can get out of this. You'll get 14 emails from me. You'll get the live Q &As. There's journaling prompts. There's a discussion board. And you also get the previous recorded office hours we did on previous sessions. It's going to start on the 6th of November. Registration stops on the 7th of November, and it's open now. So you got to sign up. You don't have too much time. Sign up now. Now grab your spot for Stoicism 101 at dailystoic.com slash 101. That's dailystoic.com slash 101. Or just click the link in today's show notes.

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7:40That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like the Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, we have partnered with Supercast to bring you an ad-free version of Daily Stoic. We're calling it Daily Stoic Premium. And with Premium, you can listen to every episode of the Daily Stoic podcast completely ad-free. No interruptions, just the ideas, just the messages, just the conversations you came here for.

8:24And you can also get early access to episodes before they're available to the public. And we're going to have a bunch of exclusive bonus content and extended interviews in there just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into Stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium, and we are offering a limited time discount of 20 % off your first year. Just go to dailystoic.com slash premium to sign up right now or click the link in the show descriptions to make those ads go away.