How to Be Invincible - According to the Stoics

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Why does criticism impact us? Even feedback from someone we don’t know can affect us. This episode explores what wisdom traditions (like Stoicism and Buddhism) can teach us about responding to criticism.

Strangely, many great thinkers and traditions offer detailed advice on dealing with difficult people and how to respond wisely to criticism.

For example, in 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt discussed the topic in one of the most famous speeches of all time, titled Citizenship in a Republic. Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better….”

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote,

“When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you. But you should still be kind to them. They are by nature your friends…” [...]

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