You Must Practice This | The One Path To Serenity

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1:54On Friday, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the Daily Stoic, my book, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful collaborator, translator, and literary agent, Stephen Hanselman. So today, we'll give you a quick meditation from the Stoics with some analysis from me, and then we'll send you out into the world to turn these words into works.

2:29It's just not true. The Stoics were not magically stronger or wiser or more mentally tough than you. In fact, they were exactly the same as you. They felt fear, they felt frustration, they felt annoyance, they had expectations, they had desires. And when things didn't work out for them, they got upset. But it's what happened next that separates them from us. The one habit that Epictetus and Marcus Rillus and Seneca, a slave, an emperor, a power broker, and a playwright, respectively, it was journaling. Epictetus said that philosophy was something his students should write down day by day, and that this writing was how they should exercise themselves.

3:05Seneca said the key was to put each day up for review, to go back over what I've said and done, hiding nothing from myself, he said, passing nothing by. And Marcus Rillus, of course, said less on the subject of journaling, but left us the greatest lesson of all, his example. They were, of course, not the only ones to practice the habit of writing. Foucault observed that in this era of history, all the great minds practiced it. In this period, he said there was a culture of what could be called personal writing, taking notes on reading conversations and reflections that one hears or engages in oneself, keeping kinds of notebooks on important subjects which must be re-read from time to time so as to re-actualize their contents.

3:48But in Stoicism, the art of journaling is more than just a simple diary or commonplace book. The daily practice is the philosophy, preparing for the day ahead, reflecting on the day that's past, reminding oneself of the wisdom we have learned from our teachers, from our reading, from our own experiences. It's not enough to simply read these lessons once or hear them once. Instead, one practices them over and over again, turns them over in their mind, and most importantly, writes them down and feels them flowing through their fingers in so doing. In this way, journaling is stoicism, and it's almost possible to have one without the other.

4:27And by the way, the beginning of the year, I think, is a great time to start a journaling habit. I just started my eighth year of the One Line a Day journal, which I love. It's now, I think, the sixth year of the Daily Stoic journal, which is built around this stoic practice. There's a meditation for the morning, a meditation for the evening, and sort of a weekly theme to focus on. You can check it out at store.dailystoic.com or anywhere you get your books sold. And then we do have a cool thing in the Daily Stoic store. We have like a leather cover that goes over the journal, which I've put on mine.

5:01So I just swapped it out here not too long ago. And I love it. I think you'll love it. You can check those out at store.dailystoic.com, and I'll link to them in today's show notes.

5:22It's January 12th. The One Path to Serenity is our entry in the Daily Stoic. Keep this thought at the ready at daybreak. This is Epictetus' Discourses. And through the day and night, there is only one path to happiness, and that is in giving up all outside your sphere of choice, regarding nothing else as your possession, surrendering all else to God and fortune. This morning, remind yourself what is in your control and what is not in your control. Remind yourself to focus on the former and not the latter. Before lunch, remind yourself that the only thing you truly possess is your ability to make choices and to use reason and judgment when doing so.

6:05This is the only thing that can never be taken from you completely. In the afternoon, remind yourself that aside from your choices you make, your fate is not entirely up to you. The world is spinning and we spin along with it, whichever direction, good or bad. In the evening, remind yourself again how much is outside of your control and where your choices begin and end. And as you lie in bed, remember that sleep is a form of surrender and trust and how easily it comes. And then prepare to start the whole cycle over again. Epictetus is just the best, man. He is just the best. And, you know, he's not just writing this little prescription for our fortunate, luxurious modern times.

6:49You think about this guy who was waking up as a slave. He had so little control. He was waking up, he was disabled. He walked with this limp. He lived in a time you could be exiled, you could be killed, you could die of disease at any moment. He lived in a time of political corruption, time of violence, time of manifest injustice, his own status in that sphere being quite clear. What Epictetus was saying is that the path to serenity was in focusing on what you control, in limiting your view towards those things, not emoting at or being resentful or angry about the things that are outside your sphere, about being able to practice surrender.

7:37He calls it the art of acquiescence, which I've always found to be a beautiful phrase. Remembering that you don't possess anything, that all the things are yours in trust only, even your own body, even the life that you have, eventually that gets taken back from you. And this can feel a little sad or resign, but I actually find it quite empowering and quite beautiful. And it's just a reminder that there's only one path to serenity today. It's a simple, it's a clear, it's a straightforward path. It's not easy, but that's it. And we could do well to remind ourselves of this quote, morning, day, and night.

8:24thanks so much for listening if you could rate this podcast and leave a review on itunes that would mean so much to us and would really help the show we appreciate it and i'll see you next episode

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