Hie thee upon roads Untaken in misty morn.  My home friends' haven.  Daily Stoic: Avoid false friends.  Avoid being a false friend.  Be a good friend. Reach out first. Offer help. Give support. Stand beside. Comfort celebrate heal mourn enjoy remain. Go beyond.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Music: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom 13: 'Tebe poyem' – 'We hymn thee' by Sergei Rachmaninov

A lot's happening,  Who knows what is going on?  Stick with it. Focus.  Daily Stoic: Be kind is one of the most important principles I've tried to instill in my kids.  Be kind is one of the most important principles I hold for myself.  Be kind is one of the most important principles.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Elevazione by Domenico Zipoli Daily Shakespeare: Sonnet 97

Many paths to suit, Answers peek up through the leaves,  Flowers for the soul.  Daily Stoic: There's a subreddit, r/stoicism , where people ask about Stoicism. Whether it's asking for an explanation of a difficult passage or advice about a challenging life situation, the responses may vary in quality, but they're almost all seem genuine in their attempt to help.  The Stoa, writ large.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Légende, op. 17 by Henryk Wieniawski

Dayum, baby! Hoooo!  You're sweeter than molasses!  I trust you wholly.  Daily Stoic: When my wife and I began dating, we made this a foundational principle of our relationship: If there are two ways to interpret an event, and one implicates our spouse in something nefarious while the other holds them innocent, we always assume that our partner would not deliberately hurt us. You would not believe how much this helped us strengthen and grow our relationship. By always assuming that any slight or problem that arose was accidental, we avoided hundreds of arguments.  It also eliminated any vestigial jealousy in our bond. By training ourselves to start from trust, it became cemented in our hearts.  Were someone to tell me my wife had been unfaithful to me, I'd laugh in their face. I trust her utterly.  And I know without doubt she would do the same.  Making considered judgments about our relationship from the beginning did indeed lead us to ...

Bodily odors — Like spoilage under hot sun. Don't complain. Act. Move. Daily Stoic: Don't let myself get dragooned into a fit of pique just because someone annoys me.  I should either do something about it or shut up and deal with it. Whinging shouldn't be an option. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Crisantemi by Giacomo Puccini Daily Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona , Act 4 Scene 1

Cold-hearted revenge! Floods of passion wash o'er us! Don't give in.  Breath.  Wait. Daily Stoic: But but but . . . if I don't get them back, they win!!!!! . . . if I don't get them back, they'll do it again!!!! . . . if I don't get them back,  I'll look stupid!!! As if any of these reasons were worth sacrificing my dignity and tranquility. Is there are point to revenge?  Sure. It teaches people that you fight back so the next person will not fuck with you. It gives you a reputation for not taking any shit and therefore you will be treated better by others, at least insofar as they are less likely to aggress against you in the first place. But . . . there are other ways to achieve those same benefits.  Ways which preserve equanimity and a clear soul. Also, by not seeking revenge you gain other benefits: people understand you are not like the offender and their opinion of you rises you gain a reputation for calm action instead of rash re action you demonstrat...

Love: exciting, new. Come 'board.  We're expecting you. Life's sweetest reward! Daily Stoic: If you would be loved, love. Lately, I've been purposefully trying to be more positive.  Deliberately making sure that my interactions with others are as positive as I can. For example, when I play sports on the weekend, I have been loudly and vocally praising others' performance and downplaying unskilled plays.  People have reacted remarkably well to this. Everyone seems to be in a (slightly) better mood. Their attitude toward me seems to be better.  My mistakes are taken more lightly and my successes are recognized more easily. Altogether, the idea that "if you would be appreciated, appreciate others" seems to be working quite well. Now to ramp it up and make it "if you would be loved" . . . .  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Suite española op. 47, 1: 'Granada' (Serenata) by Isaac Albéniz Daily Shakespeare:...

Let me be honest, Hidden spring from frozen ground . . . Why not be overt? Daily Stoic: Honesty is the default, a constant aspiration of which I sometimes fall short. I hope my reputation is as one who is true and trustworthy, but, of course, I cannot tell since those thoughts are not under my control.  All I can do is treat my fellows as I would be treated: honestly, steadfastly, honorably. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Music: Symphony no. 9 in D minor, 3: Adagio: Langsam, feierlich - slowly, solemnly by Anton Bruckner Daily Shakespeare: Pericles , Act 4 Scene 6

Present is barely.  Engaged is better.  Invested is best.  Daily Stoic:   Reverence and justice. Justice and reverence.  Foci which allow me to do well in the present, should I employ them.  I don't often fret about the past. One event constantly, but beyond that, I'm at peace with how things have gone. Not all as I wished, but even so, I cannot change it so why pace and pull my hair? The future is a different stripe. I can make changes to help set up a future more in line with my desires. Really, my only worries are those most common to humanity: money and my kids.  I don't have crushing debt, but enough that I sometimes worry. What if I can't pay my bills? What if I lose my house or suddenly incur large medical bills?  What if my kids aren't prepared for the world? What if I'm not doing enough for them? What am I most certainly missing that they'll need to know in their life?  Can I control my thoughts? Can I focus on the here a...

Inch by inch, measures Times of days and of seasons Turn turn turn. By Jove!  Daily Stoic:   I must use the standards I have set for myself.  Wisdom courage justice and temperance. Honesty loyalty kindness and love. Liberty nonagression empathy and voluntaryism.  They make a good set of principles, if I practice them.  Why then, when I know the blessings to be reaped from their employ, do I actively make decisions which thwart these goals and substitute ephemeral pleasures for tranquility and equanimity?  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Music: Cantus arcticus 2: 'Melankolia'  (@6:53) by Einojuhani Rautavaara

String Quartet no. one.  Daily meditation is  Today's music too.  Daily Stoic: <<Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Except doughnuts. Doughnuts taste like skinny can go fuck itself.>> (It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out.)  I pursue physical pleasures more than I should. Especially food. Briefly, my relationship with food is fuctup. I can fast for 5-10 days. Sometimes it's easier than others, but I can definitely do it. But when I do eat, I eat too much and make poor choices.  In the past, I've successfully used low carb / keto eating to lose weight. But I can't bring myself to combine the two, which would be really nice....  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Folías criollas: Gallarda Napolitana by Antonio Valente

Life is joyful, calm.  Kids playing close by their mam. Show virtue to all. Daily Stoic: I'm wrong all the time.  I want to catch it and correct it sooner. What tools do I have to do this? As with anger, I can watch for precursors which indicate an error.  Is there a tickle in the back of my mind that something just doesn't feel right?  That's a clue. Are people, especially those I respect, giving the side-eye?  That's a clue. Did things go differently than I expected?  That's a clue. The more clues I find, and the better I become at recognizing them, the less often I will compound my errors by doubling-down on them, extending them, or being unaware of them. Time to be better. Today's Meditation: Today's Music: "Air, Deux insulaires" from Roland by Jean-Baptiste Lully

To envy and illness, Like light fading at sundown, Gentle into night. Daily Stoic: Envy is not (usually one of my many faults.  I find it relatively easy to be happy for others' success and achievements, knowing that theirs and mine are separate things and what they gain is not something I have lost. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Autumn by Frank Bridge Daily Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice , Act 3 Scene 2

Hey! STFU.  Yes, me. I need to zip lips.  Focus on kindness.  Daily Stoic: Never miss a good opportunity to shut up. ~ Variously attributed I work hard to keep an even keel. I monitor myself for those precursors to heated actions or words — increased heart rate and respiration, furrows in my brow, feelings of tense anxiety and the urge to do unpleasant things (physical, verbal, emotional), etc. — in an effort to forestall such impulses. Better yet, sometimes I can spot the inchoate process in time to change tack and prevent it from ever reaching a threshold of action. "You hurt most those you love most" — an old saying, and true, in my experience. I get frustrated with family much more often than I do with others.  More often than not, though barely perhaps, I can tamp it down and practice Stoic patience, acceptance, and forgiveness. But far too often for my liking, I find myself saying words I wish I could take back.  These aren't tirades, flying o...