Head-dibs

Download the game free of charge through July 4. I'm not a gamer, but I am a huge fan of the artist behind the soundtrack.

"What assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the opposite!" (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.27.4)

" Epictetus the slave. Marcus Aurelius the emperor. Seneca the power broker and playwright. These three radically different men led radically different lives. But they seemed to have one habit in common: Journaling. In one form or another, each of them did it. It would be Epictetus who would admonish his students that philosophy was something they should “write down day by day,” that this writing was how they “should exercise themselves.” Seneca’s favorite time to journal was in the evenings. When darkness had fallen and his wife had gone asleep, he explained to a friend, “I examine my entire day and go back over what I’ve done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by.” Then he would go to bed, finding that “the sleep which follows this self-examination” was particularly sweet. And Marcus, he was the most prodigious of journalers, and we are lucky enough that his writings survive to us, appropriately titled, Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν, Ta eis heauton, or “to himself.”...

"This is why we say that nothing happens to the wise person contrary to their expectations." (Seneca, Tranquility of Mind , 13.3) 1. Manage your expectations 2. Consider for the best and worst-case scenarios. 3. Be prepared for either and excel in virtue as you receive it.

"It's the pursuit of these things and your attempts to avoid them that leave you in such turmoil. And yet they aren't seeking you out; you are the one seeking them. Suspend judgment about them. And at once they will lie still and you will be freed from fleeing and pursuing." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.11)

"It is not good to be entirely without the experience of cold and heat, but one ought in some degree to feel the cold in winter and likewise the heat in summer and to seek shade as little as possible." (Musonius Rufus, Lecture 19) "We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing." (Seneca, Tranquility of Mind , 17.8)

“Observation and perception are two different things. The observing eye is stronger. The perceiving eye is weaker.” (Miyamoto Musashi, 1584-1645)

"To the youngster talking nonsense, Zeno said, 'The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is so we might listen more and talk less.'" (Diogenes Laertus, Lives, 7.1) "The best treasure is a sparing tongue." (Hesiod)

“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart...I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals.” (Anne Frank) “Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying...or busy with other assignments.” (Marcus Aurelius)

Listen to reason and have a nice weekend!

Vivaldi, with great hair A little Baroque-n-roll from the 1700's for your listening pleasure:

 . . . stop digging." "How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us." (Marcus Aurelius, 11.18.8)

"If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible--for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.19) There are two kinds of people: the first says "Why them and why not me?" and the second says, "If that can do it, why can't I?" 

"It's normal to feel pain in your hands and feet if you're using your feet as feet and hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal--if he's living a normal human life. And if it's normal, how can it be bad?" (Marcus Aurelius, 6.32)