My friend, still my friend. Risky messages o'ernight Turned out well indeed. Daily Stoic: Philosophy has been a part of my life since high school. A couple of teachers introduced me to the Scholastics (it was a Catholic school) and to Plato.  Sincerely then, I've studied it formally twice and for my own edification on and off for more than 30 years.  It's only been the past few years that I've been studying Stoicism more closely.  Like Marcus says, philosophy is a balm to my needs. It has helped me treat many old mental and psychological wounds and given my a renewed purpose in life.  I will always be indebted to those teachers for their placing me upon this path.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: D aily Shakespeare: Measure for Measure , Act 3 Scene 1

A good friend in need,  Though they do not perceive it. Saying hard truths hurts.  Daily Stoic: I took this lesson to heart several years ago. Once I got used to simply saying "I don't know / I don't care," it's amazing how it freed me from giving a shit about so, SO much useless crap.  If someone thinks me ignorant, ok; that wasn't under my control in the first place. Anyone who's opinion I might value will already know me well enough that they have already judged me smart or ignorant.  More importantly, they will be able to tell from my questions (or lack thereof) whether or not I care about the answer. Am I stupidly ignorant or I am willfully ignoring  a topic because I have actively chosen not to care about, say, celebrity gossip or a phone game fad.  Is this ignorance or a mathia  (a lack of wisdom; anti-sophia)?   Ignorance, accidental or willful, can be cured if necessary. Amathia, willful un wisdom, is unforgivable. Today's Medit

Move along now. Git.  Nothing to gain here, lazy.  You have work to do.  Daily Stoic: It's still amazing to me to think that this was a private note, not meant for publication, from a Roman emperor to himself.  Get on with it. Do my job. Be humble. Be focused. Do what I can and the rest will take care of itself.  Today's Meditation: Cf. Our Town by Thornton Wilder  Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Daily Shakespeare: As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 1

Fitful nights vex.  Improper formats bother.  So what? Move on. Go.  Daily Stoic: I would that I could control my desires and aversions that I may want only what is right and avoid all that is wrong.  I would that I could act rightly that I may avoid those actions which cause unnecessary harm, divorce me from the cosmopolis, or imperil my character.  I would that I could practice my assent that I may be free of deception and error in my understanding of the world. ----------- I need to complete and restart my reading of Farnsworth's Rhetoric. Then his book on the Socratic Method. Then his book on legal arguments. Then reread The Practicing Stoic. Then....  ----------- I have work to do. After a fourth restless night in a row, I don't feel like doing it. Discouraged and meh, I just want to shirk my duties, skip lunch with a friend, and ignore family and friends until I get something, anything like a several good, consecutive hours of sleep.  But I cannot

All meditations All day in the fertile fields Of my Stoic mind.  Today's Meditation:

Haiku, Haiku, it's Off to rhyme I go, but no Haikus do not rhyme. Daily Stoic: " I have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire, or any kind of disturbance.  Instead, seeing the true nature of things, I will give them only their due. " Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci Daily Shakespeare:

This makes two in two Posts which fall one day after. And now to move on. Daily Stoic: Two times in two days, I end up forgetting to post what I spent some time preparing for publication.  Oops.  Well, now is as good as yesterday, especially given that reality won't let me go back to remedy this peccadillo. ----------------------------- Focusing on what is in my control — my judgments, attitudes, reactions, behaviors, assent, reason — proactively eliminates or ameliorates many of the problems I have experienced.   Envy?  Check. Frustration? Check. Anger? Check. Resentfulness? Check. Desire? Check. Pride? Check. Now to practice the preaching. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

Read deeply, closely. Drink it in, in full measure. Make it part of me. Daily Stoic: I need to find my copy of Mortimer J. Adler's How to Read a Book . Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Meditation IV:

We are all the same,  Under Chance's varied cloak.  Humans. One. All.  Daily Stoic: We forget how much of success is opportuned by luck. Being born into the right family. In the right country. At the right time. Meeting the right people and becoming friends with them. And a million other things that help create success.* Many people, myself included, subconsciously relate great wealth‡ with a concomitant ability and / or moral worth.  Somehow, wealth seemingly, magically transforms an ordinary human into someone we should look up to, someone we should aspire to be like (in a personal sense, beyond merely wishing we had the same resources), someone who is a different kind of human and perhaps not really the same species anymore.    They are not. They are human. Same potentials and foibles as the rest of us. We've just been conditioned to make that association.  Just because someone is wealthy doesn't mean they are immune to mental, physical, and personal limitati

Terrible film. Check.  Yes! Manos, The Hands of Fate.  Doot Doot Doot TORGO!  Daily Stoic: Er . . . That's what I'm doing. 😜 Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

Work. Family. Scene. Play. Endure. Participate.  Think. Choose. Act.  Daily Stoic: I sometimes do my reflection in the morning, more often on weekends when I don't have to go to work. More likely, like tonight, I prep the post (reading passages, gathering screenshots, etc.) in the morning and then do the thinking about it in the evening.  Some people present their case to prefer one over the other —.generally boiling down to whether they like prepping for the day to come or reviewing that just passed — but I don't feel strongly either way. Both approaches can be effective.  That said, there seems to be a bit more satisfaction felt when I get it done in the morning than at night.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Daily Shakespeare: Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2 

Watcher in water. We cannot get out. End comes. Drums. Drums in the deep. Daily Stoic: At any point, after any ill-fortune, disaster, or catastrophe, I can rededicate myself to virtue, it's pursuit and the living of it.  All too often easier said than done, but always, always possible.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Daily Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida | Act 3 Scene 2