Will You Receive This Gift? | Turn Words Into Works

0:00It's time for Cyber Monday, Dell Technologies biggest sale of the year. That's right, you'll find the lowest prices of the year on select Dell PCs like the Dell 16 Plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. And with built-in advanced AI features, it's the PC that helps you do more faster. From smarter multitasking to extended battery life, these PCs get the busy work done so you can focus on what matters most to you. Plus, you can earn Dell rewards and join many other benefits like free shipping, expert support, price match guarantee, and flexible financing options. They also have the biggest deals on accessories that pair perfectly with your Dell PC, improving the way you work, play, and connect.

0:38Whether you just got started holiday shopping or you're finishing up, these PCs and accessories make perfect gifts for everyone on your list. Shop now at dell.com slash deals and don't miss out on the best prices of the year. That's dell.com slash deals.

0:54Look, if you're listening to this podcast, you've probably heard of HelloFresh, right? They're the number one meal kit in America. They make home cooking easier with chef-crafted recipes and fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door. This fall, they're serving up even more to love. It's not the HelloFresh you remember. It's even better. HelloFresh is bigger. They've doubled their menu. You can choose up to 100 options each week. It's healthier. You can choose from 15-plus high-protein recipes. And they now help you eat greener with veggie-packed recipes that have two or more veggies per week.

1:28And it's tastier. You can get steak and seafood recipes delivered every week for no extra cost. They have three times the seafood options. They also have hearty fall recipes like classic beef chili or honey glazed pork tenderloin. We just got home from a week away. We're trying to think about what we're going to eat this week. It was such a relief to see that HelloFresh box sitting on our doorstep when we got home. They've got everything you need for the recipe that they pick out. There's no last minute trips to the store. Plus, the meals are delicious and easy to make. The best way to cook just got better.

2:00Go to HelloFresh.com slash Stoic10FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. One box with active subscription. Free meals applied as a discount on the first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's HelloFresh.com Stoic10FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, illustrated with stories from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of Stoic intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about, whatever it is you happen to be doing.

2:48So let's get into it.

2:59Will you receive this gift? Over 2 ,000 years ago, one of the world's greatest philosophers was born. He came of age under the Roman Empire and spread a message of kindness and mercy and doing one's duty. He taught millions how to live and how to die over the course of his life and his legacy. how to better themselves and treat their neighbors too. But eventually this wisdom grew controversial, a threat to the state, and his death came at the hands of the centurions they sent for him. And yet even during the very public agony and humiliation of his death, he asked his loved ones and followers to stay strong, to forgive the excesses of an emperor who did not know what he was doing.

3:42In those brave final moments, he immortalized himself forever. This is the story of Jesus, who people all over the world celebrate today on Christmas. But just as well, this is the story of Seneca. Remarkably, Seneca and Jesus lived nearly parallel lives. Not only that, but they were born, according to many sources, in the same year. No one can confirm for certain the exact birthday for either, but it is indisputable that two of history's greatest philosophers walked the earth at the same time. More incredible is just how much their teachings overlap, and it's worth taking some time on this Christmas morning to consider those similarities.

4:21Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. That's Jesus. Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness. That's Seneca. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, then turn to him the other also. That's Jesus. It is a petty and sorry person who will bite back when he is bitten. That's Seneca. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance and endurance develops strength of character. That's Jesus. Constant misfortune brings this one blessing to whom it always assails and eventually fortifies. That's Seneca. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

5:03That's Jesus. You look at the pimples of others when you yourself are covered with a mass of sores. That's Seneca. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. That's Jesus. Two elements must therefore be rooted out once and for all, the fear of future suffering and the recollection of past suffering, since the latter no longer concerns me and the former concerns me not yet. That's Seneca. Ultimately, both these men lived on far beyond their deaths. According to scripture, Jesus, he would rise from the dead after three days.

5:42And Seneca, through his writings, feels as alive to us as he would have to many Romans. So on this Christmas day, we can simply marvel at this near miracle, that two wise men were alive at the same time, and through their sufferings and teachings, a great legacy has been passed down to us. Which one of them we choose to rely on most heavily is an individual decision. But that we should do something with their teachings, that's a gift we would all be wise to receive this Christmas. Anyways, Merry Christmas, everyone. I love putting this together, these Christmas messages every year. It's been my privilege and honor to do this now every Christmas since 2016.

6:22Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, giving me the platform, for making me better by allowing me to write this to you. I hope to see you all in the Daily Stoic New Year Challenge, which is going to start in just a few days. I mean, 2024 is going to be here before we know it. You can join there at dailystoic.com slash challenge. And now I'm going to go be with my family and I hope you do the same.

6:56Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. This is the last of these entries of the year. The last, as we pull from the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 Meditations of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living. I think ultimately it's about turning words into works. Marcus Aurelius spent a great deal of time on his journals, yet within these pages we find him admonishing himself to throw them away, to never read them. Why? Because he didn't want it to be an excuse from the essential tasks at hand. The art of living will never be found anywhere but in our own efforts to be a good person.

7:38Never forget that that is the aim of Stoicism and of your own journals. It's not to fill up pages with pretty thoughts, but inspire you to take action, to turn the words, as Seneca said, into works. And in that, we have the perfect place to end the year with the ultimate stoic prompt. Get active in your own rescue. We have two quotes this week from Marcus Aurelius' meditations and then one from Seneca's moral letters. Stop wandering about, Marcus says. You aren't likely to read your own notebooks or ancient histories or anthologies you've collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life's purpose.

8:18Toss aside empty hopes. get active in your own rescue. If you care for yourself at all, do it while you can. That's Marcus Aurelius 3.14. You have proof in the extent of your wanderings that you never found the art of living anywhere, not in logic, nor in wealth, nor in fame, or in any indulgence, nowhere. Where is it then? In doing what human nature demands. And how is a person to do this? by having principles be the source of desire and action. What principles? Those to do with good and evil. Indeed, in the belief that there is no good for a human being except what creates justice, self-control, courage, and freedom, and nothing evil except what destroys these things.

9:06That's Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 8.1. And then ultimately Seneca in Moral Letters 108, he says, all study of philosophy and reading should be for the purpose of living a happy life. We should seek precepts to help us, noble and courageous words that can become facts. We should learn them in a way that the words become works. And ultimately, look, that's the journey for me, ironically, as a writer, is that I write them, that's my job. But if I don't listen to them, if I don't get better at it, then I'm, what am I? I'm nothing but a sophist, right? And what are you? If you read about stoicism, if you listen to this podcast, if you follow the quotes on Instagram or watch the videos, but you're not actually getting better day to day, you're not getting better at those virtues, courage, self-control, justice, wisdom.

10:03You're not focused on applying the ideas. Ultimately, that's what matters. As Mark Cirilli says, we should waste no more time arguing what a good person is. Be one, as Epictetus talks about. Embody the ideas. Am I as good at that as I want to be? Are you? Right? All this stuff is pretty straightforward, pretty simple. You find yourself nodding your head to it. But then when you're tired, that when you're frustrated, that when you're trying to do something that's really important to you, when things are really going sideways, well, it's hard to actually stick with them. It's hard to actually apply them, right?

10:44But that's the whole point. That's the whole point of the philosophy. Look, I take some solace in the fact that clearly Marcus Aurelius is struggling with that, right? He's saying that even as an old man, right? He's telling himself, you got to stop wandering about. He's saying, you still haven't figured it out. You got to get active in your rescue now before it's too late. So I take some solace in the fact that one of the greatest Stoics to ever live is still struggling with that many decades older than I am. But that time is ticking away and those opportunities are passing us by. And so the purpose of the Daily Stoic Journal, the purpose of the Daily Stoic Podcast, the purpose of all this content.

11:26Obviously, yes, it's compelling to me as a writer. I feel a duty to bring the ideas to other people. But ultimately, what I'm really trying to work on is just be a little bit better at them day to day in my own life. How would I grade myself on that? I don't know. Not as high as I'd like, but higher than before, right? Higher than if the intervention had never happened, which is ultimately how we judge a medicine, how we judge anything scientifically. We compare it against a control group. We compare it against a placebo. And I know how I was before. I know what I'm capable of if I don't try, if I just sort of go the path of least resistance, if I think about what I could get away with.

12:15That's not enough. We have to be better than that. We have to push ourselves. So that's ultimately the whole purpose of stoicism. That's the thought I want to leave you here with at the end of the year. It's about turning the words into works. What do you have to show for it? It's not about pretending. It's not about imitating. It's about action. It's about putting up the numbers, putting up the results, trying to get a little bit better every single day. I don't expect magical transformation from myself or from you. That's not possible. This isn't about epiphany, but it is about repetition and practice, holding yourself accountable.

12:55And with that, I bid you adieu to the end of this year. I hope you can look back, reflect here as the year is winding up and see where you could have done better. Hope you can set aside some plans, some goals for the next year. I hope you can build on the successes that you did have. That's what I'm going to try to do. And we'll be right back at this again because we don't stop. Talk soon.

13:27If you're ready to do a clean break, well, let's do the 2024 Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge together. It's beginning Monday, January 1st, so you don't have much time. You can do that at dailystoic.com slash challenge or dailystoiclife.com.

13:47my family owns a 2023 toyota forerunner and honestly it's my favorite vehicle that i've ever owned around town it's smooth and reliable but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry we've taken it on backpacking adventures to colorado new mexico loaded up with gear and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain that's what toyota trucks are built for off-road confidence rugged durability and the freedom to explore Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community, and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer.

14:17From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks, they're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided if at all possible. I understand as a content creator why they need to exist.

14:53That'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 a 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.

15:37And 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.