Then I read a little bit more and it still seemed interesting. Mostly as a set of practices, things like not worrying about things you can't effect, focussing on being true to your values, thinking about different outcomes as preparation (e.g. in the above quote) and that sort of thing.Kit: So, you just have to accept that your husband will leave you, and your children will die, that way when it happens you will just be like ‘oh, okay’?
Seneca: (shakes his head) Not quite. It’s more knowing that they could. See, it might not ever happen, but then again, it might. And if you start off accepting that fortune, or fate, or however you understand the world, brings both good and bad, then you will be able to still find contentment no matter what life throws at you.
I also then signed up for the Daily Stoic emails. It's a short daily email with little stories and lessons to think about. Interesting stuff and people might find it useful for living a good life.
This week it covered:
How to fight evil. "To paraphrase Marcus Aurelius: Don’t talk about what a good person should be like. Be that person."
The importance of writing and thinking clearly.
Not getting upset by people we disagree with.
What Marcus Aurelius learned from Antoninus. That was partly the lessons but mostly the benefit of having a good role model.
The importance of Memento Mori, which is, to give a very coarse summary, meditating about our death.