“While we wait for life, life passes.” — Seneca Time is the most important, the most in demand resource that we have in life. Are you spending yours wisely or do you let it go to waste? Today I want to talk about time, and how we can take some steps to be mindful of how we spend it. “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But...
Sep 06, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast “You may leave this life at any moment: have this possibility in your mind in all that you do or say or think.” — Marcus Aurelius Do you think about death? Are you afraid of death? Do you take the time to think about what the world will be like when you are no longer here? Today I want to talk about why death is so important, and how when we avoid thinking about death, we are missing out on one of the best tools to live a fulfilling life. “Death is not an evil. What is it then? The one law human...
Aug 30, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast “The responsibility is all yours. No one can stop you from being honest or straightforward.” — Marcus Aurelius Do you own your actions? Do you graciously accept the consequences of your choices? When you make a mistake do you try to cover it up? Today I want to talk about the idea that to have more control over your life, you need to accept responsibility for everything you do. “There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human d...
Aug 23, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast How aware are you of what you are thinking? What you are feeling? Most of us like to think that we are pretty aware of what’s going on in our minds or what emotion is currently driving us. I mean, we’re the one inside of our mind, so we should know what we’re thinking or feeling, right? Well, not always. Often, the thoughts and emotions inside my head are busy, confusing, conflicting, and overwhelming. So today we’re going to talk about the most important mental skill you can develop, awareness ...
Aug 16, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you really know what you want? When you think about what you want, does it excite you? Does it scare you? Are you pursuing what you want? In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about why it’s scary to know what you want, and why that’s a good thing. “Everything, a horse, a vine, is created for some duty. For what task, then, were you yourself created? A person’s true delight is to do the things they were made for.” —Marcus Aurelius This week, I got an email from a listener who said she...
Aug 09, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice–now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! […] Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do–now.” — Epictetus We all have events and challenges that happen in our lives. That what life is all about. When the stoics use the term Amor Fati , what they mean is to love y...
Aug 02, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you win an argument? All of us have to deal with conflict in our lives. To think otherwise is completely unrealistic. But when we have an argument, what is our goal? What do we hope to achieve? To change the other person’s mind? To prove that we are right? Today I want to talk about why we argue, and the best way to win an argument. It is possible to curb your arrogance, to overcome pleasure and pain, to rise above your ambition, and to not be angry with stupid and ungrateful people...
Jul 26, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Humans exist for the sake of one another.” — Marcus Aurelius A few weeks ago I talked about being self-sovereign, that you are in 100% responsible for your choices and actions, and that you may live exactly the want to, regardless of the opinions of others. I got to thinking about it, and I wanted to cover another aspect of what it means to be self-sovereign. When you choose to live by your rules and values, it means that you are only controlling the things that you can control, and not t...
Jul 19, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?” — Marcus Aurelius Does your work suck? Is your boss a micromanager worthy of the office? Maybe your co-workers are shallow and spend their time working...
Jul 12, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “If something is difficult for you to accomplish, do not then think it impossible for any human being; rather, if it is humanly possible and corresponds to human nature, know that it is attainable by you as well.” — Marcus Aurelius What is the key to success? Why are some people able to achieve what they want while others languish? Today we’re going to talk about how Stoicism can help you to develop the skills it takes to reach your goals, and live your best life. My Story When I first sta...
Jul 05, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Be content to seem what you really are.” — Marcus Aurelius One of the hardest things in our lives is to be completely honest with our selves and with those around us. Why is that? Why do we hide parts of ourselves or lie about how we feel, especially with those we love the most? We are afraid of rejection. We are afraid of not belonging. We are afraid that if those closest to us really “knew” us, they would no longer love us. The need to fit in and belong is a powerful, almost primal one....
Jun 28, 2021•10 min•Ep 192•Transcript available on Metacast Does being a Stoic mean you can be apathetic? Does not reacting mean that you just give up? Because Stoicism is about controlling your response, it can easily seem that you just let things just happen and don’t take action. But to be a true Stoic, you are the opposite of apathetic. You are effective. By taking the time to choose your shot, you don’t waste time or energy on the things you can’t control. Often, we confuse action with actually doing something useful. Because Stoicism is about...
Jun 21, 2021•10 min•Ep 191•Transcript available on Metacast “It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.” — Marcus Aurelius How often do you find yourself upset over something someone said? Maybe you’re stressed out over something that is happened. Maybe it’s the opposite and you’re extremely excited about some event happening in your life. Whatever it is, every event that causes some kind of emotion for you is all driven by the story that you tell yourself. One of the most important aspects of applying Stoicism in our l...
Jun 14, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent — no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” – Seneca Have you ever thought about how much energy and effort we as humans put into seeking comfort and avoiding challenging things? So many things that we spend money on in our lives revolve around making things easier or more comfortable. Part of human evolution has been to seek comfort. We try to make ...
May 31, 2021•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you find yourself in a challenging situation, how much time do you spend wishing things were different than they are? Do you get stuck in thinking how it’s not fair? What if instead of wanting to things to be other than what they are, we worked with what we have? What kind of change could you have in your life and in the lives of others if you instead focused on what you could do? How much time and frustration would you save yourself? Today I want to talk about how taking action, even if it...
May 24, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast How often do you think about the future? How much time do you spend thinking about the expectations you have for yourself, your life, those around you? How much time do you spend in your mind in the future, so much so that you don’t really live in the present? Last week I talked about how it’s easy to get stuck in the past, and how doing so is a waste of energy because it not something that we have control over. Today I want to talk about holding expectations of the future can set us up for frus...
May 17, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast I want you to take a moment and think about the biggest regret in your past. Is there some choice you made that you still kick yourself for? Were there circumstances, such as physical or emotional abuse, that you had no control over? Maybe there was something that you did, or didn’t do, that you still regret? Maybe there was the “one that got away” or you chose this job over that job. Every one of us has regrets about the past. Today I want to talk about how holding onto the past is someth...
May 10, 2021•9 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast Transcript: Hello Friends. My name is Erick Cloward and welcome to the Stoic Coffee Break. The Stoic Coffee Break is a weekly podcast where I take an aspect of stoicism and do my best to break it down into its smaller parts and see how we can apply it in our daily lives. I try to share my experiences, both my successes and my mistakes that hopefully you can learn from them and all within the time of a Coffee break. Today's episode is called Neediness. Marcus Aurelius said, "People exist for one ...
May 03, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast I want you to imagine something that you excel at. Something that you a pretty confident about. Maybe you can sing or dance, or draw. Maybe you’re great at basketball, or soccer, or poker. What ever it is, I want you to think about how you feel when you are doing it. Now, I want you to imagine that you’ve just being doing this thing that you’re awesome at, and someone comes up and critiques you. How do you respond? Would you listen to this person? Would you get offended and annoyed? Would you th...
Apr 26, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast B “Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person or that person, this challenge, this deed. Quit the evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in right now. You are not some disinterested bystander. Participate. Exert yourself.” – Epictetus One of the hardest things that we have to deal with as humans is anxiety. As humans, we evolved to be constantly aware of threats around us. ...
Apr 19, 2021•11 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast If you’re in a place where you can take a moment and write something down, I want you to get a piece of paper and pen, or may sit down at your computer, or on your phone. Just something that you can take notes on. If you are driving or unable to take notes, then make a mental list. I want you to take a moment and think about the things you want in life. Think about all the things you want to accomplish. Maybe the career or a particular job you want. Are there things you want to learn and master?...
Apr 12, 2021•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Be awesome and support this podcast on Patreon ! “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.” —Marcus Aurelius Last week I talked about asking for help. This week I want to delve into asking a bit further. Guess Culture I grew up in a Guess Culture. And what is a Guess Culture? A Guess Culture is one where the social rules are so ubiquitous that everyone knows them, or is expected to know them. It usually...
Apr 05, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?” — Marcus Aurelius The Stoics teach us that we’re part of the human community, that we’re here to help and support our fellow humans. We are social animals, and as much as we may think that we are independent, we’ve thrived as humans because of our cooperation. None of us can survive just on our own. We rely on each oth...
Mar 29, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join us at stoic.coffee . “Give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.” — Epictetus The unglamorous, most powerful way to accomplish your goals and becoming the person that you want to become. One thing that fascinates me about humans is our desire to find the easy way to do almost anything. So many of the things that we think of ...
Mar 22, 2021•18 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast Join us at: https://stoic.coffee “Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable… then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so.” — Marcus Aurelius How often do we complain about the things that we don’t like about in life? There are so many things to complain about in life. Even at this...
Mar 15, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast “It is our own opinions that disturb us. Take away these opinions and resolve to dismiss your judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and your anger is gone.” — Marcus Aurelius Over the centuries, the term “stoic” evolved from the original meaning of someone that follows the philosophy of Stoicism, to someone who does not show emotions. When you look up the definition of stoic in the dictionary, it says: “Not affected by or showing passion or feeling. Firmly restraining res...
Mar 08, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Win or learn, you never lose.” How to reframe failure as education. I have a card in my office that I look at from time to time. It says, “Win or learn, then you never lose.” I don’t know how I got this card or where it came from. I love that quote so much I have it sitting on my desk as a daily reminder that I when I feel like I’m failing at something to remember that I’m really just learning something. Why is it so hard to look at things with this kind of perspective? Expectations From ...
Mar 01, 2021•12 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast One of the core tenants of Stoicism is understanding the things we control and the things we cannot control. Today I want to discuss this a bit more in depth. “Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.” — Epictetus Circumstances and Externals First, I want to f...
Feb 22, 2021•12 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast “A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what they value.”― Marcus Aurelius The other day I was talking with someone close to me who said that they often felt extremely anxious in social settings, at work, or even video chatting with people online. I asked them why, and they said, “Because I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing and they’ll get mad at me.” I mentioned the usual things like, “It’s not your place to try and control what other people think and feel. To try to do so is just manipul...
Feb 17, 2021•9 min•Ep 174•Transcript available on Metacast Before I begin today’s episode, I want to let you know that I’ll be discussing an attempted suicide. While I believe in talking about things honestly and directly, I know that this topic can be difficult for some people. “It is not so much what happens to you as how you think about what happens." — Epictetus This last week I read a very powerful and moving story about a baseball player name Drew Johnson. Growing up, baseball was one of the most important things in Drew’s life. In his professiona...
Feb 08, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
