One of the most timeless lines in all of the Stoic writings comes from Epictetus, "What upsets people is not things themselves, but their judgements about these things .” It's a powerful idea. And it's made all the more transcendent by the remarkable fact that nearly every other philosophy has come to the exact same conclusion. --- And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan presents clips from interviews in which his guests share applications of Stoic wisdom that have used to get sober and s...
Aug 01, 2023•15 min•Ep. 1780
It’s not that we didn’t have a reason. That we weren’t provoked. Or mistreated. We were. We had legitimate reasons to be upset. We had a legitimate grievance. And yet… our response was such a mistake . We come to regret the yelling. We regret the harsh words. How much better would we have been had we been able to, as the great play about Cato put it, look at things through the “calm light of mild philosophy.” To the Stoics, what we did in a fit of passion–be it of lust or envy but most of all ou...
Jul 31, 2023•9 min•Ep. 1777
As Epictetus said, “the philosopher’s classroom is like a hospital,” so, too, can Stoic philosophy help improve the halls of medicine and the people who practice there. This was the premise of a talk that Ryan gave to a group of doctors and surgeons in February 2023, during which he applied ancient philosophy to what they do so selflessly day-in and day-out. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, sig...
Jul 30, 2023•35 min•Ep. 1774
Ryan speaks with Lieutenant David Carey in this second of a two-part interview about the bonds that he and his fellow POWs formed in captivity, why he feels no hatred to the guards who imprisoned and tortured him, his relationship with former cellmate Senator John McCain, how his experiences put daily life in perspective for him, and more. David Carey is a retired Navy Lieutenant Commander who served in the Vietnam War, as well as an author, motivational speaker, consultant, and trainer. After b...
Jul 29, 2023•50 min•Ep. 1772
Epictetus didn’t care what you had read. He didn’t care if you had made it through the densest writings of Chryssipus. Marcus Aurelius didn’t care what your job was, what your education was, what your authority was. What mattered was who you were–in your actual life. --- And in today's reading from The Daily Stoic , Ryan discusses the value of taking a step back to asses how privileged you really are in the grand scheme of life, and how that will put you one step closer toward helping other peop...
Jul 28, 2023•7 min•Ep. 1771
Every retail business knows about shrinkage–the percentage of goods shoplifted or stolen off the floor. Every manufacturer knows how to calculate their defect rate–because no production run is perfect. Every shipping company knows there will be an error rate, a delivery failure rate, even a disappeared-into-thin-air rate. Every credit card processor knows about fraudulent purchase rates and disputed charges. And the bigger the businesses, the larger these numbers are, certainly in terms of cost....
Jul 27, 2023•11 min•Ep. 1770
Ryan speaks with Lieutenant David Carey in the first of a two-part interview about his incredible experiences serving in Vietnam as a fighter pilot and being shot down and captured by North Vietnamese forces, how 2,022 days in captivity led to him embracing the teachings of Epictetus, why the community that he and his fellow POWs formed in prison saved them from depression, how he has been using his experiences to help others ever since, and more. David Carey is a retired Navy Lieutenant Command...
Jul 26, 2023•50 min•Ep. 1767
There are so many things you don’t like. Bands you think are overrated. Shows that just didn’t do it for you. Actors who, for some reason, just bother you. People who you’d rather not see. Sometimes these dislikes are personal, but oftentimes it isn’t. The feeling isn’t even particularly strong, it’s just there. Some things are not for everyone, and this one is not for you. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspir...
Jul 26, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1769
For years, you’ve worked. For years, you’ve sacrificed. You’ve risked. You’ve hustled. You’ve made tough calls, maybe even left a few knives buried in a few backs. But all of it was aimed at getting somewhere–somewhere you felt you needed to go, to do something you thought was important. And then you got there. And? And? It was a little disappointing, wasn’t it? Thus, it has always been this way. --- And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan shares what the Stoics have to say about being pr...
Jul 25, 2023•13 min•Ep. 1768
Many of the Stoics were powerful and privileged. Marcus Aurelius was born to a wealthy family and then was given the throne and the empire. Cato came from an old and prestigious family. But not all the Stoics were so lucky–Epictetus was born a slave. His teacher Musonius was exiled multiple times. Admiral James Stockdale, whose heroics we’ve spoken of often , was from an ordinary American family in Illinois. Yet advantaged or disadvantaged, all the Stoics possessed a certain power, a certain fre...
Jul 24, 2023•9 min•Ep. 1766
As a fan of the YMCA and avid user of its services, Ryan jumped at the chance when the Pennsylvania YMCA asked if he would like to come to their headquarters in 2022 and speak to a group of the organization’s Executives in order to help them navigate the shifting gym usage landscape in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ryan’s speech touches on a selection of the key Stoic ideas that he himself used to push himself through that time, including the importance of recognizing and embracing the posi...
Jul 23, 2023•32 min•Ep. 1760
Ryan speaks with his longtime friend fellow father Austin Kleon during a stop along his book tour for The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids . They discuss the life habits that they maintain in order to help fuel their creative success, why the most effective form of parenting is indirect, what parenting skills they are working on right now, how adopting a daily journaling habit vastly improved their lives, and more. Austin Kleon is a writer, author, artist, sp...
Jul 22, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 1759
Rosa Parks wasn’t just some lady who happened to make a stand on a bus one day. She was trained. She had attended NAACP meetings for years. She had gone to the Highlander Folk School, which cultivated a generation of activists. In his fascinating book Waging a Good War , Tom Ricks (who has a must-listen-to interview on the Daily Stoic podcast ) explains, “Each Highlander training session of one or two weeks began with a strategic question: ‘What do you want to do?’ It ended with a tactical discu...
Jul 21, 2023•9 min•Ep. 1765
He buried too many children. He was betrayed by those closest to him. He dealt with health issues. He was surrounded by the corrupt and inept and endlessly ambitious. He saw plagues and floods and war. So yeah, there is a hint of world weariness in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations . It would be stranger if that didn’t color his writing. While critics are wrong to call Marcus depressing or negative, he was unquestionably in pain, tired, and frustrated. This was a man who quite understandably found hi...
Jul 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 1764
Ryan speaks with Martha Nussbaum about her new book Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility , the problems that can arise with the Stoic focus on the internal over the external, how the loss of her daughter taught her what to dedicate the rest of her life to, why animals should be considered citizens of a society, the actions that Martha is personally taking to protect animal rights, and more. Martha Nussbaum is an American philosopher, author, animal rights activist, and the current ...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 1756
How would you describe someone who lies to you? Who riles you up? Who makes you anxious and afraid? Who questions whether you’re good enough? Who has preposterous blindspots and disturbing biases? Who prods you to suspect the worst of others? Who tricks you into doing things you’ll regret? Who encourages your worst impulses? But this is what our mind does to us on a daily basis ! ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic ...
Jul 19, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1763
We know at least one of the Stoics was a runner. Chrysippus ran the dolichos , a grueling three-mile loop consisting of approximately 24 stadium length wind sprints. Epictetus’s leg injury probably precluded much in the way of running, but he was clearly an avid sports fan and his lectures abound with metaphors to prove it. Yet the Stoics relationship to athletics was slightly different than your average competitor. --- And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan presents some of the most aff...
Jul 18, 2023•6 min•Ep. 1762
In the demands of daily life, in the immediacy of a heightened moment, in the pincering crush of competing interests—we rarely make good decisions. Whether it’s because we don’t have all the information, or we are biased by impressions, or we are blinded by emotions …it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the virtuousness of the decisions we make. --- And in today's excerpt reading from the Daily Stoic Journal , Ryan discusses why the Stoics believed that the true Stoic strives to confront fr...
Jul 17, 2023•8 min•Ep. 1761
In today’s audiobook reading, Ryan presents an excerpt from one of the seminal texts of Stoicism, the Discourses of Epictetus, read by Michael Reid. As a series of lectures given by Epictetus that were written down by his pupil Arrian in 108 A.D., these discourses provide practical advice to think on and practice in order to move oneself closer toward the ultimate goal of living free and happy. In this second section, Epictetus teaches how one can preserve their character in any and all situatio...
Jul 16, 2023•13 min•Ep. 1757
While on tour for his new book The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids , Ryan met up with his longtime friend and occasional running partner Casey Neistat for a live interview at Barnes & Noble in Union Square during which they shared the story of how they met, reflections and wisdom they have gleaned from their journeys through parenthood, the work and life habits that have led to their success, their advice for new parents, and more. Casey Neistat is a You...
Jul 15, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 1758
Part of the reason we’re afraid of things is that we’re unfamiliar. We don’t know what it’s like to bomb on stage in front of people, but it seems bad–so we avoid any scenario where something like that might happen. We’ve been turned down or blown off once or twice, asking someone out, asking for help, and it was unpleasant enough that we decided we did not want to explore those feelings any further. We don’t know, or don’t remember what it’s like to be living paycheck-to-paycheck anymore…so we ...
Jul 14, 2023•8 min•Ep. 1755
In Richard III and in Othello , Shakespeare has two different characters utter the same line. Both Iago and a nameless orphan say, “I cannot think it.” In both cases, the news they are faced with—the conclusion they are being asked to accept—is simply too much. The Shakespearean scholar, Richard Greenblatt, calls this phrase a kind of motto for those who can’t wrap their mind around perfidy. He’s not being condescending, for it’s a very common experience. Our naivete, our willingness to assume t...
Jul 13, 2023•15 min•Ep. 1754
Ryan speaks with Melinda Moyer about how the death of her family dog became an opportunity to teach her children about emotions, why feelings of powerlessness led her to write her best-selling book How To Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes , why encouraging curiosity is a fantastic way to help kids grow up with positive outlooks on life, and more. Melinda Moyer is a journalist and author whose work focuses on parenting, science, and medicine. She is a contributing editor at Scientific American magaz...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 1744
People will take things from you (as we talked about recently with Epictetus and his lamp ). People will betray you–as Marcus Aurelius was by his most trusted general, Avidius Cassius. People will lie, they will cheat, they will break the rules, they will blow apart the mos morium as Cato knew all too well. This will be painful. It may even be costly. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed boo...
Jul 12, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1753
It’s one of the great moments in the history of comedy. At Comedy Central Presents: The Roast of Bob Saget, the comedian Norm Macdonald is up roasting his friend, Bob Saget and the rest of the panel. Yet instead of doing what nearly every other comedian has done in the history of roasts, Norm goes on stage and basically bombs on purpose, telling a series of inane and mediocre jokes that he may or may not have stolen from an old joke book. It’s worth watching if only for the courage and self-disc...
Jul 11, 2023•12 min•Ep. 1752
In the early days of the pandemic, many of us picked up new hobbies and habits. We started taking walks. We started cooking for ourselves. Some of us stopped drinking. Some of us started doing 50 pushups when we woke up. Some of us stopped watching the news or quit Twitter. As we talked about recently though, that time feels very far away. Some of those habits and practices, certainly the energy we had toward self-improvement, have slowed down. The last few years were also incredibly stressful a...
Jul 10, 2023•10 min•Ep. 1751
In today’s audiobook reading, Ryan narrates the chapter on Seneca the Striver from his own best-selling guide to all the major Stoics, Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius . As one of the seminal figures of Stoicism, Seneca the Younger led a fascinating and hugely influential life full of the peaks and valleys that come with a relentless pursuit of greatness. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store ...
Jul 09, 2023•48 min•Ep. 1750
Ryan continues the second in his two-part discussion with Rachel Hollis about what she learned from the public backlash that she received from an instagram video, how she is currently living her definition of success, why her key to being a good parent is communicating honestly and openly, and more. Part one can be heard here: dailystoic.com/rachel-hollis-on-empathy-and-emotional-acceptance Rachel Hollis is an author, podcast host, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, blogger, and mother of four....
Jul 08, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 1743
Life may have big challenges in store for us. What’s more certain, as we talked about recently, is the ‘petty hazards of the day.’ We may find ourselves thrust in some crisis–a big political moment or some emergency that unfolds in front of us on the street. We will definitely experience traffic and obnoxious people and temptation and burnout. It’s important we understand that whether the moment is big or small, the Stoic is supposed to respond the same way. That is to say: Calmly. Courageously ...
Jul 07, 2023•8 min•Ep. 1748
It doesn't matter how important you are. It doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how used to getting your way you are, or how much you have planned and prepared. A single driver can decide to slow down lanes of traffic and lines of cars. A single bureaucrat can decide not to accept your paperwork, not to approve your application. One person with a grudge can tie you up in months, or years of lawsuits–one lawyer can bleed you more than you ever thought possible. One jerk can ...
Jul 06, 2023•12 min•Ep. 1746
