I saw a haiku In the fog of night last night. Today, that mist is gone. Daily Stoic: Things will happen that will thwart my plans, however carefully laid.  When that time comes, and it most certainly will come, I must find a way to adapt this setback to my purpose.  Today's Meditation: Daily Shakespeare:

Time to be better. Endless opportunities To make improvements. Daily Stoic: "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best."  What a contemptible lie.  If I am wrong, I need correction.  If I am rude, I need to apologize.  If I am hurtful, physically, mentally, or emotionally, I need to make amends.  My worst is not who I work to be. I strive to be better than that: to be virtuous, serene, tranquil, gentle, and kind.  That is who I want to be. That is who I am. That is who I am becoming.  Today's Meditation: From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Chapter 22: Practicing Stoicism  Irvine offers some advice for those starting along the Stoic path.  1. Start covertly. People don't understand Stoicism. In fact, they often know of it's only through the misinterpretation that commonly follows the term Stoic in our society. Because of this, many will mock a fledgling Stoic as they begin their journey. Th

Dour seriosity Removes too much joy from life. Play the fool sometimes. Daily Stoic: Self-criticism is part and parcel of Stoic thought, without it we would never improve, but that does no imply self-flagellation or self-condemnation. Looking deeply into my thoughts, habits, virtues, vices, etc. requires me to be honest with myself about where I am doing well and where I need to do better.  And it's the better part that should be my focus.   I fail.  I allow myself to act in ways contrary to what I know I should do to live my best life.  This happens quite often, in fact.  When it does, it's an opportunity for me to learn and to avoid the same mistake next time. A key feature of this is finding out what caused my failure. Once done, I can watch for that root to sprout again, nipping it in the bud before it blooms the next time I am stressed or otherwise less likely to be careful about my behavior. Today's Meditation: From How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day by Arnold

I plan well today.  I know my goal . . . and yet fail.  Get up. Try again. Daily Stoic: Stoicism can be tough.  Yesterday, as we waited 30+ minutes for our "fast food," I reminded myself that this time will pass regardless of my attitude. I can sit here, pissed off at the injustice of it all, fuming and allowing myself the indulgence of being mad at the workers in the restaurant . . . OR I could remember that today " I will meet interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness " and tell myself, "You know what? This is fine. This is how it is and I choose to accept that. I choose not to give in to pettiness and pouting."  And it was working. I was calming myself, despite my boys moaning and acting up in the back seat.  Then I realized this could be a teaching moment and I turned to explain why choosing serenity is the better path in this situation.  In the middle of my explanation, one son began interrupting and gener

Fasting days on end Feels better than you might think.  Resets my body.  Daily Stoic: Paradoxical intention, Viktor Frankl's phrase for it, is what Epictetus is suggesting here: to keep your mind from excessively focusing on the bad thing you want to avoid, instead you concentrate on the opposite.  My bad habits are a lengthy list — I'm sure I could list a few dozen without too much effort — and it gets longer each year. Too much TV or staying up too late. Too many distractions at work or too much bad food at meals.  On that last one, following Epictetus' advice has been working well. I fast as part of my efforts to lose weight. For the past two months, I've been practicing 5 / 2 fasting: nothing during the week then refeeding during the weekends. My weight is down, my energy is up, my attitude is good, and I'm feeling great overall.  It's gotten easier as time goes by, but when I find myself struggling and wanting to break my fast, I focus on the op

Permanently in Growing season, I find that I'm making progress. Daily Stoic: Know what is up to me and what is not. Manage my expectations. Use negative visualization. Accept reality. Be at peace. Today's Meditation: From A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy Today's Meditation II: From Happy by Derren Brown

How much time wasted? Life without purpose gone by. Stop! Carpe diem. Daily Stoic: Remaining calm is something I generally do well. Much better, at least, than I have in the past.  There are exceptions to this rule, of course. One of the most important in my life is with a friend of mine. I'll call them Pat , for ambiguity's sake.  Pat and I butt heads almost every time we see each other. It's an old habit for us at this point, easy to slip into and a well-worn path to follow.  I hate it. I genuinely love Pat to death and would do anything for them, but somehow this recurring shared neuroses always comes calling when we interact. I want to remain in good spirits when we get together and I want our relationship to strengthen, as it naturally will minus the constant bickering.  To date, my Stoic exercises have been unsuccessful at avoiding the almost ineluctable conflict.  Time to redouble my efforts. Today's Meditation: From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvin

Death is part of life, Wholly unpolluted by Our understanding.  Daily Stoic: There's an old story about a king's advisor.  The king was preparing to go to war with a neighboring country.  Taxes were levied. Men were conscripted. Horses and other animals were made ready.  Equipment was created and loaded for transport.  All the things necessary to invade and conquer another land. When the advisor asked the king why he was invading the other nation, the king replied, "Once I have conquered XYZland, I will need to subjugate ABCland." The advisor asked him what he will do after that.  "Once I have taken over ABCland, I will go on to defeat DEFland." The advisor asked, "And then what?" "Well, then I will retire to my country estate and enjoy fine food and better entertainment with my friends." Finally, the advisor asked the king, "And what is stopping you from doing those things now?" -------------------------- Sometimes I get so foc

My father taught me Strength, patience, love, wisdom, care, Devotion. And love. Daily Stoic: Change or do not change.  Those are my choices.  If I fail and keep on keeping on, why would I expect a different outcome? If it doesn't work, try, try again . . . but differently. Today's Meditation: From A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Chapter 19: On Becoming a Stoic — Start Now and Prepare to be Mocked Philosophy also abandoned Stoicism in the 20th century.  Upon discovering that many philosophical conundrums originate in the imprecise use of language, academic philosophy shifted from examining life to examining words.  If we can just define our terms properly, then  we can understand the question "What is the good life?"  Only after that can we try to find an answer. One problem with this is that they never stopped defining their terms.  Answers were never produced because they never completed step 1. And one final

Music in the air,  Notes of harmony and truth  Floating through my mind.  Daily Stoic: I walk sometimes. Mostly for the exercise, but there's no small part of taking time to think involved in my decisions to go out.  Whether it's listening to an audiobook (currently: Happy, Why more or less everything is absolutely fine , by Derren Brown), contemplating my life, planning for upcoming events, or spending time with my son if he chooses to join me, walking clears my head of the innumerable distractions in my world. Simply getting away from other people and my immediate responsibilities refreshes my soul for continuing on.  Today's Meditation: From Happy, Why more or less everything is absolutely fine , by Derren Brown From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Chapter 19: On Becoming a Stoic — Start Now and Prepare to be Mocked Today's culture is rife with calls to "fix" what makes us unhappy through the

Father's Day is here.  Morning visit to grandpa  Makes the kids happy.  Daily Stoic: Be the calm within the storm.  Keeping my cool during stressful situations isn't easy. I have a natural tendency to want to react quickly, but that impulse can be resisted.  The calmer I remain, the calmer those around me will remain as things go sideways.  Calm is contagious.  Today's Meditation: From Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl Viktor is channeling the Stoics here, reminding us that no matter how bad the situation, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in which restrict us and threaten us and force us to bend to the will of others, we are always free to choose our judgment and our attitude.  From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Chapter 19: On Becoming a Stoic — Start Now and Prepare to be Mocked Another modern criticism of Stoic thought is that their advice about dealing with grief is unhealthy and wrong-headed. Stoics

Why write these poems?  It's a mental exercise,  Subtle words at play.  Daily Stoic: It still gets me when I think about the fact that these words were written by the EMPEROR OF FREAKING ROME. That this man, famed for his personal practice of philosophy, actively using Stoicism in his life, and the most powerful man on Earth, wrote down words of contemplation and encouragement to himself.  If Marcus Aurelius, who grew up with private tutors and had power beyond anything most of us can come close to imagining, can need to remind himself to not be overwhelmed and to face bad eggs and bad asses alike with magnanimity and grace, then maybe the troubles I face are less overwhelming than I fear.  Maybe I can handle this.  Today's Meditation: From A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy  From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Part Four: Stoicism for Moden Lives  Chapter 20: The Decline of Stoicism  Some say Stoicism declined because Rome fell into

Friday, I'm in love. A joyful life spent with her All the years fulfilled. Daily Stoic: Let me accept today as it comes.  Let me focus on virtue today and do the next right thing.  Let me fix my flaws rather than look to change others.  Let me know serenity today.  Today's Meditation: From Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl  Second Meditation:   From The Daily Dad for June 18, 2021 Third Meditation:  From  A Guide to the Good Life  by William B. Irvine: Chapter 19: On Becoming a Stoic — Start Now and Prepare to be Mocked Why start now?   Because there's no better time to begin gaining control over your life.   When is it better to stop one's impulse to anger from overwhelming your good sense and goading you into saying something you will regret later?  Should you do it now, before you say the hurtful words? Or should you wait until later when you have already injured your relationship? When is it better to prevent blaming

Playing with the words,  Making them dance to my thoughts.  Poetry begins....  Daily Stoic:  Pursuing fortune is fatuous.  I must chase virtue instead.  Living a virtuous life, either fortune will come to me or not, but either way, I will become a better person and live a worthier life.   Today's Meditation: War is a racket.   It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. ~  Smedley D. Butler, USMC Major General (ret.) and two-time Medal of Honor recipient Daily Shakespeare: Stoic Quotes on Death, from  The P