Premeditatio Malorum is a stoic exercise of expecting of terrible things that can happen at any event or time. Some people mistakenly view this practice as pessimism but it’s actually a great way to prepare for setbacks. Most of disappointment in people’s life came from an unrealistic view of a perfect world – that things ought to happen the way we want it to be. Obviously that’s not the case. When you expect the worst…
[View Handbook] A lot of people compare Stoicism to Buddhism as ancient stoics puts a huge emphasis on living in the present moment. Whether it be the works of Seneca, Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, time is viewed as probably the most important commodity given to man. As Marcus Aurelius put it, “That the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is…
[View Handbook]Amor Fati is a Latin phrase that means “love of one’s fate”. The Stoics believe that the world behaves in a rational and coherent way in a series of cause and effect events. The cause can be anything but the effect is to preserve the entirety of the universe. The fact that the world has existed for billions of years is a manifestation of how Nature behaves in such a way to preserve itself.…
[View Handbook] Memento Mori, a Latin phrase which means “Remember You Must Die”, is a popular practice among ancient stoics to remind themselves of their mortality. This might sound unusual after hearing it for the first time and for some sounds scary but actually it can make one be more appreciative of the present. Seneca, a popular stoic philosopher, said that one of his friends has a daily ritual by sitting aside a coffin with some…
[View Handbook]Rationality simply means to base everything – judgment, perception, action, etc. – on reason. The Stoics believe that the “logos” exist in our reason and therefore regard it as some divine power. It’s the only thing we can control and if we put our energy into it rather than things that outside ourselves, we will live a much better life. They constantly remind us to see things and events for what they truly are…