The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. You can thank me later.
I first found this book on my brother’s bookshelf and joked about taking it away for myself. I didn’t expect him to say I could have it. It was an unexpected but welcome gift!
It was exactly what I needed to amp up my morning with a little extra clarity and wisdom for each day.
Life can feel a bit chaotic sometimes! Whether your day is going well or could be going well, and whatever mood you’re in, I believe this is the book to ground and guide us.
The book is divided into twelve principles to overcome obstacles, with one assigned to each month, and in total there are 366 meditations on the philosophy of Stoicism for each day of the year.
I loved the sound of this immediately as I knew reading a little bit of Stoicism every day would be a comforting ritual and would hopefully encourage more good habits!
Stoicism is a school of philosophy founded in Athens in the early third century BCE. Today, Stoicism is based on the surviving texts of three intellectuals in the Roman Empire: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca the Younger, and Epictetus. These guys knew the original Greek theories and this book includes translations from their texts for a daily dose of Stoicism for modern living.
Stoicism teaches resilience and moral wisdom to help us foster more happiness, peace and clarity in our lives. It even inspired the development of cognitive behavioural therapy!
To have a compass of principles to follow and live by helps guide you through life’s challenges and acts as a constant source of wisdom to live by, helping you have more conviction in your decisions, morality, and the way you rise to life’s twists and turns.
For me, having this ritual of reading a page a day is a totally doable habit to build into my day, and I can already see the benefits. I already feel like a more balanced, rational, and resilient person, as the messages of these teachings are helping me to reframe my mind and belief system into a more positive way of thinking.
I am so excited to keep up this habit and dive deeper into Stoicism as I believe it will really help me with my mental wellness and I’ll be a much wiser person for it. I’ll keep you posted!
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