Being is being, whether the differences appear or not.
Capturing the ‘good life‘ is a challenge for all beings.
Virtue is kingly in all our endeavors, a course correction is often needed to keep one’s life from running aground or being stuck.
Live beyond mere survival.
All forms of poverty may fall upon you.
Don’t give up!
Live this day, this minute, it may be your last.
Who am I?
Belief is key.
Find a healthy way to be.
AI: That’s a good question. I think it depends on how you define a lifestyle and something more. For some people, Stoicism is just a set of tools and techniques that they use to cope with life’s challenges and improve their well-being. For others, Stoicism is a way of life that shapes their values, beliefs, and actions. For some, Stoicism is even a spiritual path that connects them with the divine reason or logos that governs the universe.
What do you think? How do you see Stoicism in your life?
Me: It is about Cicero, On Living and Dying Well. I referred to a big piece of it in my last blog entry on Michael’s Space. “Grab Hold Of Yourself And Stop Being Afraid Of Your Freedom”. My blog will continue to have elements in future blog posts. But first, do no harm to myself and others. And remember this is about being and doing.
My challenge to you is to read this blog which states for all those who purport to do good in this world to do the following.
1. Write an email to somebody enclosing a positive message.
2. Tell them to write another (positive) email to somebody else with the instruction to do the same.
Get it, got it, good!
He is learning to be a better person.
I am doing the same by learning from my teacher : Epictetus.
Who is your teacher?
I think Socrates posits the question best through getting to know himself and staying anonymous ( not writing much down and becoming complex through a student called Plato).
I like it that money is available but not to excess.
I like it that education is key to being a better person.
It seems important to do my best and do no harm.
It is tragic that Socrates died to prove a life is worth living.
But if I truly understand, I may yet be free from the clutches of vice and ruin.
I believe in a living life kind of stoicism.
To be rational, find mental and moral health and let go of hate or a lack of compassion for yourself or others.
I guess I believe in quality of life.
It is 50 below zero, I am alone in my snow cave.
I get sick with a rare virus.
After being away for 25 years, I come home and at the age of 50 my life begins.
Do your best and do no harm to yourself or others.
How to stop being in a rush.
Take a break from time to time.
Be aware of how I feel and let myself feel hurried and worried.
But return to my breath.
Focus on my breath.
Acknowledge my hurrying and worrying.
Then stop, take a break.
Stop acting on this impulsivity.
Stop practicing this impulsive behaviour.
Stop,look and listen.
Perhaps journal about it.
Let this state of mind past.
Notice how worked up I got.
Let myself rest and relax.
Do my best and do no harm to myself or others.
Why not examine our lives for holes?
If you have ever gone down the YouTube rabbit hole, you know what I mean.
Nothing wrong with YouTube or other users.
It is just the hole I find myself in from time to time.
I get stuck: depressed and tired, angry, obsessed, addicted and lost!
Getting to know myself is the solution.
Awareness is key, but the truth can be more painful than I am prepared to live with on this or any occasion.
Sometimes it is good enough to know I am in a hole.
Sometime I need to stop look and listen.
Maybe it is time to turn off YouTube and go to bed.
What other holes am I stuck in at the moment?
2023’s Top 10 Best Epictetus Books Top Rated and Reviewed. Easily choose and compare the Best Epictetus Books for you all in one place.
— Read on top10best.how/epictetus-books
“If” by Rudyard Kipling sounds like a stoic but to my mind, Epictetus is the stoic and may just know how to live a happy/good life.
Many people may never get to the point of applying the good life to their way of being because it is difficult to learn how to apply these principles when you don’t have a teacher who embodies them.
Anyone of the top ten books above will introduce the best teacher to show you.
Epictetus shows us what is important through his actions: a slave who excelled at stoicism and as a teacher.
In old age, he created a family through the need to look after an older boy. He probably enlisted a servicewoman to help him look after the child.
Listen to what he has to offer, his wisdom is a primer for a happy life and then some.
We age, we change, as we grow older, as we loose more control over our mind and body.
We get ill. We catch colds, viruses. Flus, diseases like cancer, our immune system begins to fail.
We slow down, we eat less, we sleep less, we have lesser ability to live.
I am learning to accept all the above and more.
I do my best each day and do no harm.
The practice of living a good life is simply doing no harm and striving to learn to do this in all your affairs.
But a rational look at it is a good guide for some.
There are many routines to living a good life.
They all involve practicing the basic living lifestyle that promotes health and all the forms that entails.
A blog and a journal is a good habit to maintain a record and place to sort out day to day problems, solutions and even goals and objectives.
There is no need for perfection, but an aim towards it will avail itself on the regular basis.
A desire or a passion will show itself to the practitioner over time.
Philosophy is a way of being guided to live a good life.
Contemplate all the above and throw in your own life experience.
It would be a tribute to being true to the principles, actions, and beliefs and to a very rich (well balanced) lifestyle.