A personal perspective: Reframe holidays as opportunities to reset your life. Source: Love Them or Hate Them, the Holidays Are Coming
Love Them or Hate Them, the Holidays Are Coming
The Stoic Art Of Not Panicking: @RyanHoliday Speaks To The U.S. Marine Corps
This caught my eye as I have two sons and a brother-in-law that are ‘prior service Marines’ (this much I know — one must never say ex-Marines). I was interested to see how Marines would respond to stoic thinking.
Powerful Stoic Quotes That Will Change Your Life
Ryan Holiday says ‘We all need a little motivation from time to time. A swift kick when we’re feeling a bit uninspired.’
Stoic Advice For Hard Days
In every way the deck was stacked against Epictetus. 2,000 years ago in Hierapolis, he was born into slavery. He wasn’t even given a name–Epictetus just means “acquired one.” He was tortured. The fruits of his labor were stolen. His body was abused. Like a horse that was ridden into the ground and then put down. Later he was unfairly exiled. He went through unimaginable adversity and difficulty and yet he triumphed.
Ryan Holiday
What Marcus Aurelius Learned from His Father About Being a Good Man
Another excellent post from Ryan Holiday, this time about the things that Marcus Aurelius learned from his father:
Perseverance: 7 Stoic Lessons on How To Keep Going
Ryan Holiday writes The question of why and how we are supposed to live has been contemplated for centuries. Absurdist Albert Camus wrote that life is like the Sisyphean task of pushing a boulder up a mountain for all of eternity. Existence itself, in other words, is persevering. Camus writes, “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” So, how do we persevere well? How do we persevere happily? Go to the source: Perseverance: 7 Stoic Lessons on How To Keep Going
Seneca’s Most Powerful Quotes
Ryan Holiday says “One thing that stands out from Seneca is that he is one of the most enjoyable and readable of all ancient philosophers. Part of it was due to the fact that his most notable works came in the form of letters. Two of the most popular include On the Shortness of Life and Letters from a Stoic.”
It’s not necessary to have an opinion
“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind—for things have no natural power to shape our judgments.” MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.52
Holiday, Ryan, Hanselman, Stephen. The Daily Stoic (p. 49). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Why Being Broken Up With Is A Win-Win Situation
“It seems like couples are breaking up left and right. January is the #1 month for filing for divorce, and then in February, we all get attacked by heart-shaped candy boxes.Sure, the seductive holiday marketing might make you feel like being recently single is a double burn. But being alone on V-Day is better than being with someone who doesn’t think you’re as awesome as you are.“
Why Being Broken Up With Is A Win-Win Situation | YourTango
A Gentle Reminder to Anyone Who’s Struggling This Holiday Season via @TinyBuddha
The holiday season isn’t the most wonderful time of year for all of us. If you’re struggling this season, keep these things in mind. Source: A Gentle Reminder to Anyone Who’s Struggling This Holiday Season – Tiny Buddha
The 16 Greatest Lessons From 16 Years With Marcus Aurelius
Ryan Holiday writes “I was 19 years old when I purchased my first copy of Meditations. Here are 16 Stoic lessons I learned from over 100 readings of the classic”. Go to the source: The 16 Greatest Lessons From 16 Years With Marcus Aurelius
The Virtue That Made Marcus Aurelius So Great
Ryan Holiday writes: “Marcus Aurelius did not come out of the womb a leader. Nor was he an emperor ‘by blood.’ In fact, when first told he was to be king, he wept—thinking of all the bad and failed kings of history. So how did he get from there to philosopher king? Book 1 of Meditations shows us. The first ten percent of the book—Debts and Lessons—thanks people who groomed him into one of history’s greatest leaders. He knew it—without his philosophy teachers and rhetoric teachers and, most importantly, his mentor Antoninus Pius, he wouldn’t have became who he became. In this video Ryan Holiday recounts one of the greatest stories in human history and talks about how Antoninus Pius taught Marcus Aurelius the most important virtue of all.”
Amor fati
Amor fati is a Latin phrase that may be translated as “love of fate” or “love of one’s fate”. It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one’s life, including suffering and loss, as good or, at the very least, necessary.[1]
Amor fati is often associated with what Friedrich Nietzsche called “eternal recurrence“, the idea that, over an infinite period of time, everything recurs infinitely. From this he developed a desire to be willing to live exactly the same life over and over for all eternity (“…long for nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal”).[2]
Amor fati Is also talked about in stoic philosophy. Source: Amor fati – Wikipedia
Happy holidaze!
Wishing you the best holidays you’re able to salvage from 2020…
Emotional Resilience During the Holidays
Consistently investing in your emotional health builds emotional resilience over time. Resilience allows you to maintain groundedness, clarity, and compassion in the face of challenges. When resilience is present a hard hit to your heart, like an argument with a family member, still hurts: Emotional Resilience During the Holidays — Wise Heart
NPR’s Book Concierge Is Back For Another Year Of Reading Recommendations
People looking for holiday gift ideas have a resource: the NPR Book Concierge. The interactive book finder has hundreds of titles selected by NPR critics and staff: NPR’s Book Concierge Is Back For Another Year Of Reading Recommendations
Mindful Holidays
As we head toward a very different holiday compared to years past, we can reclaim the peace and joy of the season through mindfulness—one of the most powerful tools we have in the face of life’s twists and turns. With practice, we learn to work with our circumstance exactly as it is, and it’s from this grounded place of openness, that we can discover the beauty and possibility that lives in the moment: Mindful Holidays — Calm Blog
Amy Grant Is Still The Queen of Christmas
Sorry, Mariah—Grant’s catalogue reigns supreme over all the other holiday pop hits: Amy Grant Is Still The Queen of Christmas
Christmas doesn’t start for me until I’m ready to hear this song…
Bonus…
The Stress-Free Holiday
Ideas for slowing down and enjoying more: The Stress-Free Holiday
‘Blue Christmas’ Services Offer Refuge From Holiday Cheer
Loss and pain are especially hard amidst the joy and tinsel of the holidays. A growing number of churches are offering “Blue Christmas” services to hold a space for often unwelcome feelings: ‘Blue Christmas’ Services Offer Refuge From Holiday Cheer
Bright, shiny objects! 
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