Here's a great primer on Stoicism by TED-ED:

thx for contribution brah!


here's a new podcast episode on intro to stoicism:http://www.artofmanliness.com/2017/0...icism-podcast/

Afternoon brahs

Thinking about posting daily excerpts from a book I read every morning,The Daily Stoicby Ryan Holiday. We'll see if I can remember to do so...If something or someone interrupts our plans, turn the negative circumstance into an opportunity to to become more malleable and have the fortitude to treat it as a learning experience to improve upon yourself. Any impediment can be molded to derive some benefit out of, its all about how youre viewing the situation

Morning! Im liking this bc it forces me to think about it more rather than just quickly read it and continue on with something elseThis is the idea that everything has a purpose in nature, and every action taken by a person or animal is part of an overall interconnection with the cosmos and everything in it. Everyone has a job-the people that are evil are evil because that is a part of life. Someone has to play that role, for how do we know what is good without evil? We can choose to be good, so whatever happens, whatever someone elses job may be, do yours and be good.

^ good stuff brah! I also been reading Daily Stoic everyday all year, highly recommend ppl to buy that book!

here's another new podcast episode on stoicism:http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/stoicism.htm

Definitely a must purchase! Ive been reading it every morning for the past few monthsAwesome definitely gonna give this a listen

will read meditations by marcus aurelius soon. seems to be a great, insightful read.

love it my dude

hehe ty men <3 almost posted link here in ur thread but didn't wanna hijack ur thread so I will post link to ur thread here instead:https://forum.obnoxiousbrutes.com/showt...hp?t=174412681

bump

just finished "meditations" by marcus aurelius. a must-read for every miscer. stoicism has some good, applicable principles such as how to confront adversity, how to deal with rejection/peoples opinion of you etc. i have my insecurities as well and i think stoicism can help me overcome these.

awarening

me too man. Its allowed me to see/think of myself as my own person, rather than trying to emulate someone else. I can become the best version ofmyselfbut im never going to be anybody else, and thats OK.

good stuff glad you enjoyed meditations. Refer back to it every once in a while, make tabs of your favorite passages and reread them.


heres a pretty good article I found on staying level headed:

http://www.theemotionmachine.com/the...-neutral-mind/

^ I saw that in my YT recommendations. I knew he was a smart dude and obviously a hell of a showman but I didnt realize he was philosophical like that. good vid

Saw this article posted on Reddit of some more good books pertaining to stoicism

https://www.nateliason.com/books-after-stoics/

Hey guys, this is a thread I posted elsewhere on the misc. Hope you enjoy.

I guarantee that if you start doing these 3 exercises on a regular basis you will become a cold blooded stoic success machine. I am so happy that the philosophy is getting more recognition now.

Method One: A view from above

'You can rid yourself of many useless things among those that disturb you, for they lie entirely in your imagination; and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every part of everything, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution'

– Marcus Aurelius


Marcus Aurelius advises us to perform an exercise called 'view from above'. This exercise involves us envisioning ourselves from the third person. In this vision, we zoom out while keeping ourselves in the centre. We continue zooming out and contemplating the scale of the universe. For instance, your first zoom might encompass a view of you from above the roof of your house. Increase the magnitude and you might see a view of your street, increase the magnitude and you might see a view of your country. Keep going until you can picture a view of Earth from the stars.

With this scale, we can gain a better perspective on the insignificance of our problems. When compared to the universe whatever problems we might appear incredibly trivial. For instance, if you were feeling down because a girl flaked on you or someone insulted you, try this exercise. It is far easier to overcome the emotional hurdles we experience when we put things into perspective.

Method Two: Negative visualization

'Remember that all we have is “on loan” from Fortune, which can reclaim it without our permission—indeed, without even advance notice. Thus, we should love all our dear ones, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever—nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long.'

- Seneca



Negative visualization despite the name is an exercise that will increase your default level of happiness if practised consistently.The exercise consists of you envisioning what it would feel like if you lost certain things from your life.
Some of the things that you could consider during the exercise are:

• How it would feel to not have a roof over your head.
• How it would feel to lose social status.
• How it would feel to live in a third world country.
• How it would feel to have a physical disability.
• How it would feel to lose a loved one.

This exercise is not meant to be dark or morbid, it’s meant to put things into perspective. Allowing you to see how lucky you truly are. It also prepares you for the worst case scenarios in which one of these things does happen.You are not meant to fixate on these thoughts, but consider them from time to time.

This is a very practical way for you to practice gratitude, naturally, when you consider things being removed from your life, you start to gain a sense of gratitude.

Now gratitude is important because of a thing called ‘hedonic adaptation’, basically, it’s a term that defines the tendency for humans to always go back to their default level of happiness.
If you won the lotto and became a millionaire, your base level of happiness will increase for a while. However, when you become accustomed to the lifestyle, despite all the new toys, you will return to your base level.
Gratitude breaks this pattern, allowing you to enjoy each step on the ladder. You can be grateful when you own a box, and you can be grateful when you own a Lamborghini Avendator.

Method Three: Voluntary Discomfort

'But neither a bull nor a noble-spirited man comes to be what he is all at once; he must undertake hard winter training, and prepare himself, and not propel himself rashly into what is not appropriate to him'

- Epictetus



The last exercise has been advised to us by Epictetus. It is called 'voluntary discomfort'. In this exercise, we are going to deliberately put ourselves through uncomfortable situations. We will do this in order to train ourselves to not hold onto comfort with such high regard.
We can perform voluntary discomfort in a number of ways.
Some suggestions are:

• Cold Showers
• NoFap
• Exercising in the morning
• Walking in the cold without a jumper
• Fasting for a day
• Sleeping on the floor

All these things will change your relationship with comfort. Once you overcome the need for comfort, life will become much easier. Setting your goals and sticking to them will be far easier. When most people complain about being ‘uncomfortable’, you won’t be able to relate. You are literally training yourself to be like a Navy Seal. This method will harden you up for life.
Eventually **** will hit the fan at some stage during your life. You want to have to mental and physical fortitude to weather the storm.
So those are the three stoic exercises. Stoicism is a practical philosophy that has survived the test of time due to its universal applications. If you practice these stoic meditations, you will be well on your way to the good life.

make sure you get the "Hays" translation



that's what the cover looks like. Apparently, it's the translation that's easiest to understand

check out this ted talk brahs

awesome posts brahs! ^^^^


here's a new podcast I found, called stoic mettle, guy who does it is a former mma fighter:https://stoicmettle.libsyn.com

are there more stoic "must-reads" that you brahs would recommend to me? im quite interested in philosophy, especially in stoicism.
just ordered platos "republic" and aristotles "nicomachean ethics" but would also like to learn more about stoicism.

epic thread btw <3

I bought A Guide to the good life 3 months ago, still not started reading it unfortunately. Definitely found the principles interesting before I bought the book. The author explains why its not the same as buddhism in the book. Any advice on where to go once I finish this book?

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
James Allen - As a Man Thinketh
Immanuel Kant - Critique of Pure Reason
Seneca - Letters From a Stoic /// On the Shortness of Life
Epictetus - The Discourses /// Enchiridion (very quick read with good info) /// The Art of Living
Musonius Rufus (this was the mentor of Epictetus btw) - Lectures and Sayings
Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching (not "stoic", but very interesting, who cares "stoicism vs taoism vs x vs y" etc. it is all the same, just inform yourself from multiple angles and make up your own beliefs)

I've had Meditations in my bookshelf for a while. I've decided to start it today. Cheers bros, to a better us

Alright bros. I can't do that old school talk lol. It's brutal. Are there any versions that's translate to modern English

yes many ppl recommend this one:https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-N.../dp/0812968255

thread needs to be stickied

Being a stoic has helped out my life so much its insane how much it helps your mentality

Thanks proudmanlet. This thread needs a regular bump

Am I a stoic even though I never knew what the fuk this was?

I supress emotions that I know may possibly hurt me, especially the negative ones, I also by nature, suppress useless relationships & suppress how much love I feel for my gf & family (srs).

I believe the following has nothing to do with stoicism but it's what led me to be the way I am today,

Society is fuked, a large portion of the population is fuked from my point of view so I like to distance myself from them in general, there's so many wrong things that are in society and yet no one tries to fix it and those that do can't fix it completely because of how the system is setup as & how people are attached to their customs & beliefs.


Pretty much everyone that I know considers me an extremely cold people & to some degree anti-sociable, probably because the moment I meet someone I'm already judging them, the more trash they say the worst they become the less I speak & the more I avoid them, actually, I simply hate people who are unintelligent, its hard to explain but pretty much 99% of the people I meet are complete retards (from my POV, they're probably normal for your average person) & there are so many things that I feel like I should correct them but don't simply because I wanna avoid trouble.


inb4 arrogant

Stoicism is not about suppressing your emotions, but controlling how you react to various things. Stoic people do have emotions, but they choose to react differently than emotional people.

As for the last part: "Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction.”

Shame, seems like I still haven't found somethign I can relate to

What are your Stoic exercises?

meditation for one, and merely acceptance of events.

accepting that life is/isnt going to go your way at times has helped me tons. ill give a perfect example.

im a waiter and ill have some days in which i make tons of money and some days in which i make very little in relation to what i was expecting. it all eventually balances out. situations no longer affect my mood I just deal with them as they come