This discussion dives into the resilience of Stoic philosophers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius amid profound suffering, highlighting their ability to find purpose and cheerfulness. It emphasizes how external obstacles shape our mindset and actions. The concept 'the obstacle is the way' is explored, encouraging listeners to view challenges as opportunities for growth. Personal stories illustrate how embracing obstacles can cultivate virtues like patience and kindness, transforming adversity into a pathway for personal development.
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insights INSIGHT
Life's Challenges
Life is full of suffering, death, and hardship, as the Stoics experienced.
Despite this, we control our response and can choose to keep going.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
The Obstacle is the Way
View obstacles as opportunities for growth and practicing virtue.
Turn negative circumstances into chances to improve and learn.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Pandemic Growth
Ryan Holiday shares how he used the pandemic as an opportunity for self-improvement.
He focused on family, community, and personal growth despite the challenges.
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366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Ryan Holiday
Stephen Hanselman
This book provides 366 meditations on Stoic wisdom, featuring new translations of passages from Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and other Stoic philosophers. Each day, readers are presented with a Stoic lesson explained in modern language, along with advice on how to apply these lessons in everyday life. The book is organized temporally and thematically across the twelve months of the year, making it a daily resource for practicing Stoicism[4][5][6].
The obstacle is the way
Ryan Holiday
In 'The Obstacle Is the Way', Ryan Holiday presents a framework for turning obstacles into successes. Drawing from the philosophy of Stoicism and the writings of Marcus Aurelius, Holiday outlines three disciplines: perception, action, and will. He illustrates these principles with historical anecdotes from figures such as John D. Rockefeller, Amelia Earhart, Ulysses S. Grant, and Steve Jobs. The book emphasizes the importance of perception in shaping one's response to obstacles, the need for intentional and creative action, and the cultivation of will to persist through challenges. Holiday argues that by adopting these Stoic principles, individuals can transform their obstacles into opportunities for growth and success.
The inner citadel
Pierre Hadot
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
Meditations is a series of private writings composed by Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome's greatest emperors, as he struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Written between 170 and 180 CE while on military campaigns, this work combines Stoic philosophy with personal observations on leadership, duty, mortality, and human nature. Through twelve books of intimate thoughts never intended for publication, Marcus Aurelius explores themes of self-improvement, resilience in the face of adversity, and living virtuously while accepting what cannot be changed.
Nearly every day was a terror. People died of easily curable diseases. People starved to death. People were clapped into slavery. Wars broke out–fought literally to the knife–where the losers were executed alongside civilian populations…their cities razed to the ground.
Seneca was exiled. Marcus Aurelius buried his own children. Epictetus was tortured, leaving him disabled for life. Yet somehow they wrote and spoke a philosophy that had within it, cheerfulness and love and lofty words about meaning and purpose. How did they even get out of bed in the morning, let alone smile?
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And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic, Ryan delves into what the Stoics really mean by "The Obstacle Is The Way."
The Daily Stoic 
