What sorrows are brought, What joys come bounding to us, What choices we have. Thoughts: One job: be a good person. Need I be famous? No. Need I be wealthy? No. Need I be Important ? No. Need I to be true? Yes.  Need I follow Nature? Yes. Need I use my reason? Yes. Need I practice wisdom through justice, temperance, and courage? Yes. These are my goals.  Act upon them. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

Thoughts: Morning meditation to purposefully plan my day.  Daily mindfulness to actively guide my behavior.  Evening reflection to judge my successes and failures. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

A pipe and a chat. Connecting with my child and Learning the good life. Thoughts: We talked about the Choice of Hercules. We talked about eudaimonia . We talked about cognitive distancing, gratitude v desire, and amor fati . We talked about how joy is the byproduct of living virtuously in accordance with Nature. About how pleasure is not happiness. About how happiness is active, based on things we do not on things done  to us. We talked. It was wonderful. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

There once was a woman from Blighty , Who never felt pain or anxiety. She has the FAAH-OUT So pain goes round 'bout And now she's the talk of society. Thoughts: Luck is something I create when I look to the care of my character. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

Thoughts: Am I living a beautiful life? A life of excellence of character? A life of virtue? What's the scale? How many times can I fuck up and still consider myself a lover of wisdom? Is one too much? Is a million ok so long as I'm sincerely sorry and honestly set about to not do it again? Caught between what's the math here, being too strict with myself, and sliding down a slippery slope of justification.  Mediations 5.9 : Don't be disgusted, don't give up, don't be impatient if you do not carry out entirely conduct based in every detail upon right principles; but after a fall return again, and rejoice if most of your actions are worthier of human character.   Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

Come to the dark side. Tempting pleasures await me. Be smart about it. Thoughts: There is no situation in which I cannot learn. If I have the insight. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Meditation IV:

Who am I? I am A philosopher by choice. Work so I can think. Thoughts: Overjoyed are my critics. I give them much to feast upon.  Like ripe figs, my sins burst open for inspection. Sweet to the taste of my censure. And I, if I am not to commit further offense, thank them. And mean it.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

Thinking of dropping — Running, slowing, dripping. Still. — My daily haiku. Thoughts: 230512, AM: I wonder what will be here at the end of the day?  230513: Nothing apparently. I visited some friends last night and forgot to complete my studies before falling asleep. Lots of contemplating death in my meditations, today. Recognizing the brevity of life and appreciating each moment I do get more profoundly for it.  Thoughts on wasting time, my one irreplaceable resource. That said, I do not count last night as wasted time. Connecting with my friends — one present all the time and a fellow philosopher by both training and inclination, the other (whom I mentioned a few days ago, absent for years but [probably] returning soon) also a thoughtful fellow in his own right — is one of those things in my life I never worry about when I consider how I spend my time. The first friend has a list of things he "won't hesitate to spend money on": good food and drink, friends, travel, ed...

Shun vice, pursue good.  Let principles guide my hand. Do no wrong. Do right. Thoughts: Much like Epicureans largely defined the good life as the absence of pain, Seneca here defines equanimity as the avoidance of vice. If I can avoid sin — even if I am not yet actively virtuous nor committed to serving my community — I will be far ahead of where I began. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

"Play ball!" she bellowed. Throw. Swing. Crack! Run. Field. Throw. SAFE! Pop! Inning over. Thoughts: Resilience. Rising despite setbacks. Perseverance. Continuing despite lack of or insufficient results. Stick-to-it-tiveness. Moving forward despite difficulty. So it goes with the battle of the bulge. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

Good times are coming, They arrive on their schedule. Patience, Padawan. Thoughts: Sabotaging my diet again today.  Getting to be a regular habit. Sabotaging my sleep. Choosing to stay up for the playoffs even though I know I'll pay for it tomorrow. Making unreasoned choices. Knowing the repurcussions and doing it anyway.  And I call myself a Stoic.   Today's Meditation: From  How to Live on 24 Hours a Day  by Arnold Bennett. Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III:

What's up? What's next? So what? So many thoughts regarding life Extra syllables . . . noooooooo! Thoughts: Re meditation II: If they knew me, they'd not stop there.  There are plenty more things about me worth   insulting . Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

New sins for old! New sins for old! Come out and try a fancy new adultery or how about a nice addiction? A classic, that one.  New sins for old! New sins for old! Could I interest you inna mysterious foreign jealousy? Take a look at this gluttony over here? Quality workmanship that. New sins for old! New sins for old! Thoughts: I'm a stickler for old sins. I rarely commit new ones, just repeats of all-time faves. Chains they are, indeed. So, I've tried the usual bad habit breakers . Identifying precursors to pattern interrupt. Self-discipline and willpower. Cognitive distancing. Depreciation by analysis. Functional analysis. Suggesting substitute actions. How bloody simple it is for me to talk myself around such defenses. I hear myself saying "This is a bad idea." and "I shouldn't do this." and "How about we do  this good thing instead?" and yet it's as though they were said by a third person, as if I weren't saying them to myself and...

Mama says she's got Mala in her. Got that good vibe. Whaya gonna do? Thoughts: Talking to my kids about philosophy — What makes a person good? — and this comes up in my reading.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Meditation IV:

Going to the store Gonna get a new taste treat. Unsatisfying. Thoughts: Let me learn to better pursue the equanimity and satisfaction of living a good life over the fleeting pleasures of the senses. My character is my job. All other things are unimportant. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: