The What Is Stoicism? Podcast

This episode explores how philosophy can help us notice more of life before it passes. John O’Donohue and Rilke encourage us to rediscover the beauty of ordinary surroundings, while Seneca asks us to consider how much of our limited time disappears into distraction, busyness, and postponement. Together, their reflections suggest that living well is not simply about making better use of time, but about being present for the life already unfolding around us.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Nature Awaits Your Appreciationhttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-nature-awaits Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores character through two Stoic questions: can you be trusted, and can you act with dignity regardless of your position? Epictetus argues that every dishonest act damages the person we are trying to become, while Epaminondas shows that dignity comes from how we perform a role, not from the status attached to it. The Stoic lesson is to judge ourselves less by what we are given and more by how reliably, justly, and honorably we use it.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: You Can Give Dignity to Any Officehttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-you-can-1db Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores the pressure to find identity and fulfillment through work.Derren Brown and the Stoics suggest a different approach: your job can matter without defining who you are, and dissatisfaction does not automatically mean your life is going wrong.Seneca’s reminder that “it does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it” shifts attention toward what remains within our control—our judgment, effort, boundaries, and character.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Where Do You Find Your Sense of Worth?https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-where-do Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode reflects on Seneca’s question of whether life is still worth choosing when its beauty and suffering come as a package. In Consolation to Marcia, he sets the marvels of existence—stars, mountains, rivers, forests, love—beside illness, grief, danger, and death, then asks whether we would still agree to enter such a life. His answer is simple: we would.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: You Will Marvel At These Thingshttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-you-will Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores Marcus Aurelius’s ten reminders for keeping anger from taking control.His advice centres on perspective: remember that people act from their own beliefs, that we make mistakes too, that we rarely know the full story, and that anger often harms us more than the original offence.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Attributes of a Calm and Gentle Personhttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-attributes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores the balance between solitude, good company, and independent judgment.Hume and Seneca both saw value in stepping away to think clearly, then returning to relationships that strengthen character and enrich life.The danger is not society itself, but surrendering our judgment to the crowd and mistaking popularity for wisdom.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Do You Value Both Solitude and Company?https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-do-you-value Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode explores how remembering mortality can sharpen both attention and freedom.Oliver Burkeman and Alan Watts show why the present matters precisely because it cannot be repeated, while John O’Donohue and Epictetus use the same awareness to put fear, status, and authority into perspective.Life’s brevity asks us to be more present with the people we love and less willing to surrender our inner freedom to temporary pressures. Remembering death, in this sense, is not about withdrawing from life, but entering it more fully.If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Focus on the Joy, Not the Poignancyhttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-focus-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to truly know yourself? This reflection explores building character through everyday choices, staying consistent when no one is watching, and protecting your judgment, integrity, and intentions when circumstances turn difficult. Socrates and Epictetus illuminate how a life of daily practice can prepare us for adversity.

Why does complaining make frustration feel even worse? Drawing on Seneca and Epictetus, this reflection explores how repeated grievances amplify negativity and hand power to external events. It offers a practical three-step approach: pause, assess without drama, and reframe irritation into constructive action, while distinguishing useful resistance from simply suppressing emotion.

This episode examines wealth, desire, and the freedom that comes from needing less.Seneca warns that fortune’s gifts often become traps, because external success can deepen dependence rather than satisfy the soul.Anthony de Mello sharpens the same insight: many of our chains are imaginary, formed by false ideas about what we need before we can truly live.If you’d like to continue the practice, you might also find this Micro Morning Meditation helpful:☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: You're Free Alreadyhttps://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-youre-free Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.