Your Mind Is A Fighter | Powerful Stoic Quotes That Will Change Your Life

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2:13New subscribers only varies by plan. That's HelloFresh.com, Stoic 10 FM, to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these Stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

2:47Your mind is a fighter. Marcus Aurelius hated the gladiatorial games. He despised the violence and the pointlessness of it. But it was also his job to attend them, so he did his best to distract himself with a book, often to the bemusement of the crowd. When he was emperor, he tried to give the gladiators wooden swords so they wouldn't hurt each other. Seneca found the violence disturbing too, and he was wary of anything the mob loved. Yet both Seneca and Marcus Aurelius understood the power of the metaphor, which is why allusions to the games are threaded through their works. They knew that life was a battle.

3:22They felt that the philosopher belonged in the arena. They knew that surviving, winning, depended on training and courage and tenacity. They didn't live long enough to read Boswell. They would have appreciated his description of the mental facilities of his muse and hero, Samuel Johnson, what Marcus Aurelius himself called the command center. through the imagery of what Marcus and Seneca saw firsthand. His mind resembled a vast amphitheater, the Colosseum of Rome, Boswell said. In the center stood his judgment, which, like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that he, that, like the wild beasts of the arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him.

4:04After a conflict, he drove them back into their dens, but not killing him, they were still assailing him. We don't have to revel in combat sports to understand that we are in our own desperate fight. We are fighting against false impressions. We are fighting against destructive emotions like greed and fear and envy and prejudice. We are fighting against our lower self in order to reach that higher plane, the one worthy of being cheered and celebrated. And it's a fight that happens day in and day out and never really ends. We'll never win, but we can be great in our brief moment in the arena, we can be mighty as we fight back the beasts that are let out upon us.

4:46Marcus Aurelius.

4:50Concentrate every minute on doing what's in front of you. You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. The present is all we have to live in or to lose

5:12Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?

5:25Let each thing you would do, say, or intend be like that of a dying person. The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.

5:46Today, I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it because it was within me, in my own perceptions, not outside.

6:02You have to assemble your life yourself, action by action.

6:10The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. The best revenge is not to be like your enemy. You can also commit injustice by doing nothing. Receive without pride. Let go without attachment. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining.

6:51Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits. It never ceases to amaze me. We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own. It's unfortunate that this has happened. No, it's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed If it is not right, do not do it If it is not true, do not say it You always own the option of having no opinion Ask yourself at every moment Is this necessary? If something is humanly possible It's attainable by you too Think of yourself as dead You have lived your life Now take what's left and live it properly

8:10someone despises me that's their problem everything is born from change you have power over your mind not outside events when jarred unavoidably by circumstance Revert at once to yourself and don't lose the rhythm more than you can help. You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do, say, and think. Our life is what our thoughts make it. If you don't have a consistent goal in life You can't live it in a consistent way

9:11Get back up when you fail Celebrate behaving like a human Limit yourself to the present The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say, or think, or do, only what you do.

9:37Don't you see how much you have to offer, and yet you still settle for less? Mastery of reading and writing requires a master. The struggle is great, the task divine, to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility. Do not let others hold you back. A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. To love only what happens, no greater harmony. If it's humanly possible, you can do it too.

10:36Choose not to be harmed, and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed, and you haven't been. Don't procrastinate Don't confuse Don't wander Don't be passive or aggressive Don't be all about business

11:01Love the hand that fate deals you And play it as your own Practice even what seems impossible There is never any need to get worked up about things you can't control.

11:24People exist for one another. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.

11:40Seneca We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

11:50Difficulties strengthen the mind as labor does the body.

11:57Being poor is not having too little, it is wanting more. If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable. It's better to conquer grief than to deceive it Life is very short and anxious For those who forget the past Neglect the present And fear the future No man is more unhappy Than he who never faces adversity For he is not permitted to prove himself

12:43Everything hangs on one's thinking. A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is. It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. All cruelty springs from weakness. A gem cannot be polished without friction Nor a man perfected without trials He who is everywhere is nowhere

13:24As long as you live, keep learning how to live It is not the man who has too little but the man who craves more that is poor.

13:41Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise. It is not that we have a short space of time but that we waste much of it. The greatest remedy for anger is delay.

14:12How much progress shall I make, you ask, just as much as you try to make?

14:22Wisdom comes haphazard to no man.

14:28This is our big mistake, to think we look forward to death. Most of death is already gone. Whatever time has passed is owned by death. If what you have seems insufficient to you, then though you possess the world, you will yet be miserable. Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it. Nothing delights the mind as much as loving and loyal friendship.

15:18Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.

15:25Excellence withers without an adversary.

15:31Joy comes to us from those whom we love even when they are absent. What progress have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself. If my wealth goes away, it takes with it nothing but itself. Epictetus. If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid. Don't just say that you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better.

16:18I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.

16:27Don't explain your philosophy Embody it You become what you give your attention to It's impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval realize that you have compromised your integrity. If you need a witness, be your own. How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?

17:10If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be. If someone succeeds in provoking you, Realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. It's not things that upset us, but our judgments about things.

17:37Circumstances don't make the man. They only reveal him to himself.

17:45Welcome events in whichever way they happen. This is the path to peace. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you whose presence calls forth your best The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things No man is free who is not master of himself The more we value things outside our control The less control we have You are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants. Seek not the good in external things. Seek it in yourselves.

18:56Curb your desire. Don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.

19:07Devote the rest of your life to making progress.

19:19Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue. If you lay violent hands on me, you'll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo. Happiness is a good flow of life. A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason and against nature. Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing. Man conquers the world by conquering himself. We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say. He is best of all men who follows good advice. Good too is he who finds out all things for himself. No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it's irretrievable.

20:35Follow where reason leads. Steal your sensibilities so that life shall hurt you as little as possible. No evil is honorable, but death is honorable. Therefore, death is not evil. All the good are friends of one another. No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man, but one will entrust a secret to a good man. Therefore, the good man will not get drunk. All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature. The individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature. Seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?

21:41The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature, or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature, as well as that of the universe. When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too. Even if they don't want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined. fate is the endless chain of connection whereby things are the reason or principle by which the world goes on man seems to be deficient in nothing so much as he is in time look ads are annoying they are to be avoided if at all possible i understand as a content creator why they need to exist.

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