Posts

Showing posts from August, 2019

The Prized Treasures

-
Image
  “Will the prized treasures of today always be the cheap trifles of the day before? Will rows of our willow-pattern dinner-plates be ranged above the chimneypieces of the great in the years 2000 and odd? Will the white cups with the gold rim and the beautiful gold flower inside (species unknown), that our Sarah Janes now break in sheer light-heartedness of spirit, be carefully mended, and stood upon a bracket, and dusted only by the lady of the house? . . . .   The “sampler” that the eldest daughter did at school will be spoken of as “tapestry of the Victorian era,” and be almost priceless. The blue-and-white mugs of the present-day roadside inn will be hunted up, all cracked and chipped, and sold for their weight in gold, and rich people will use them for claret cups; and travellers from Japan will buy up all the “Presents from Ramsgate,” and “Souvenirs of Margate,” that may have escaped destruction, and take them back to Jedo as ancient English curios.” Jerome K. Jerome, “T...
Read more

Want Nothing, Have Everything

-
Image
"Want to" vs. "Have to"
Read more

What Questions Reveal

-
Image
Read more

Use This Gift of Nature

-
"The founder of the universe, who assigned to us the laws of life, provided that we should live well, but not in luxury. Everything needed for our well-being is right before us, whereas what luxury requires is gathered by many miseries and anxieties. Let us use this gift of nature and count it among the greatest things." (Seneca, Moral Letters, 119.15b)
Read more

It Is More Human To Laugh At Life

-
Image
“Heraclitus would shed tears whenever he went out in public, Democritus laughed. One saw the whole as a parade of miseries, the other of follies. And so, we should take a lighter view of things and bear them with an easy spirit, for it is more human to laugh at life than to lament it.” (Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 15.2)
Read more

Shipwrecked

-
Image
“Now that I’ve suffered shipwreck, I’m on a good journey . . . You’ve done well, Fortune, driving me thus to philosophy” (Zeno)
Read more

Enjoy Present Pleasures

-
Image
Read more

Pillage From All Sources

-
"I'll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying."   (Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 11.8)
Read more

In Your Self-Interest

-
Image
"Therefore, explain why a wise person shouldn’t get drunk—not with words, but by the facts of its ugliness and offensiveness. It’s most easy to prove that so-called pleasures when they go beyond proper measure, are but punishments." (Seneca, Moral Letters, 83.27) Is there a less effective technique to persuading people to do something than haranguing them? Is there anything that turns people off more than abstract notions? That’s why the Stoics don’t say, “Stop doing this, it’s a sin.” Instead they say, “Don’t do this because it will make you miserable.” They don’t say, “Pleasure isn’t pleasurable.” They say, “Endless pleasure becomes its own form of punishment.” Their methods of persuasion hew the line in The 48 Laws of Power: “Appeal to People’s Self-Interest Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude.” If you find yourself trying to persuade someone to change or do something differently, remember what an effective lever self-interest is. It’s not that this or that is bad, it’s ...
Read more

In Proportion

-
“It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.” (Marcus Aurelius)
Read more

Don't Be Miserable In Advance

-
“It’s ruinous for the soul to be anxious about the future and miserable in advance of misery, engulfed by anxiety that the things it desires might remain it’s own until the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest— by longing for things to come it will lose the ability to enjoy present things.” —  (Seneca, Moral Letters, 98.5)
Read more

1 Rep Max, 285# Deadlift

-
Image
Was out of gas by the end of this workout. Next time it's an even 300#.
Read more

Leave All Behind

-
Image
"On a voyage, when the ship is anchored, if you go on shore to get water, you may gather a small shellfish or cuttlefish along the way as a side issue for yourself, but your thoughts must be directed at the ship and you must be constantly watchful if not the captain calls. And if he calls, leave all of it behind, so you won’t be thrown into the ship bound like cattle. It is the same in life: if instead of a small shellfish and cuttlefish, you are given a wife and child, there is nothing against that. But if the captain calls, rush towards the ship and leave all behind without looking back. And if you are old, don’t even go far from the ship, so you won’t default when you are called."  (Epictetus)
Read more

"Deform To Form A Star"

-
Image
Beautiful
Read more

"Half Light"

-
Image
fascinating, captivating, magical, enchanting, entrancing, spellbinding, magnetic, irresistible, hypnotic gold
Read more

Pragmatic and Principled

-
"Wherever a person can live there one can also live well; life is also in the demands of the court, there too one can live well." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.16)
Read more

Room To Move

-
"Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties--hard times can be softened, tight squeezes widened, and heavy loads made lighter for those who can apply the right pressure." (Seneca, On Tranquility Of Mind , 10.4b)
Read more

Strength in Silence

-
Image
Not all things need to be said and sometimes we learn that lesson by saying stupid things. "The inexperienced and fearful talk to reassure themselves. The ability to listen, to deliberately keep out of a conversation and subsist without its validity is rare." (Ryan Holiday)
Read more

The Artful Life

-
Image
Read more