The Strong Stoic Podcast

The term "natural Stoics" gets thrown around a lot, meaning someone who is "naturally Stoic".  It's commonly used to describe people who are cool, calm, & collected, but is this what being a Stoic really means? In this episode, I'll be summarising what Stoicism is at its fundamental level as well as defining what the term "natural Stoic" should mean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex is an Olympic Weightlifter out of Quebec, Canada. He’s been on the senior national team for 6 years, he holds 5 senior Canadian national records, and he’s competed in the world championships. In this episode we talk about what it means to grow up and be one with something, the importance of criticism in training yet confidence in competition, how to stay focused on your goals, and much, much more. Please welcome Alex Bellemarre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human life is set up to make all of us mentors and role models in some way, from parents to bosses to coworkers to basic members of our community! Having someone to look up to is important for development. It's helpful to have something to aim at and virtues to try and live up to. But what about vices? Should we be teaching others about ONLY strength, courage, and success, or also weakness, cowardice, and failure? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human beings are not natural listeners, even though we have 2 ears and 1 mouth to remind us to listen more than we speak! However, like anything else, you can become better with time and practice. But why is listening even important in the first place? Isn't it by speaking that we show others who we are? And how does one even listen properly and get better over time? Listen up, and I'll tell you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jacob Saunders is an Olympic sailor who grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, which is my home province. He competed in sailing twice, first at Rio in 2016 and again at Tokyo in 2020. In this episode we talk about what it’s like to represent one’s country internationally, how to find meaning in life after a sports career, what lessons we can extract from sailing (i.e. boat analogy), and much more. Please welcome Jacob Saunders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the age-old lines of wisdom is "know thyself" or "to thyself be true". These maxims have stuck around for good reason but, like many maxims, it isn't always obvious what they mean or how to implement such wisdom in your daily life.Carl Rogers is a well-known clinical psychologist who talked about becoming a person - what it meant, how to achieve it, and what one could expect afterwards. In this episode, I'll be talking about what Rogers found in his clinical work while also relating it back to Stoicism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can human beings do whatever they want? Can we just make up our own values or are there objective moral principles that we are forced to contend with? In other words, are we Gods? Some philosophers seemed to think so. Nietzsche famously stated that "God is dead", and although he was far from celebrating this fact, he still believed that we could formulate our own values and that that was the way forward. Was he right or is that just man's ego? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Bakhoutski is a cancer survivor and the author of two books – finding hope in times of uncertainty and simplify cancer, as well as the host of the Simplify Cancer Podcast. In this episode we talk about what it’s like to be confronted with your mortality, how to find meaning in life despite the suffering, communicating what you need from people in your life, and much more. Please welcome Joe Bakhoutski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've often said that intentions are everything, but why? One may think that the action is what ultimately matters, or maybe even the outcome. After all, if someone has bad intentions but it results in a positive outcome isn't that good? Actually... no. Intentions ARE everything, and in this episode I will explain why that is the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harmony is a word that we don't use very often, but I think we need to use it more. In fact, one could argue that ancient philosophy, especially Stoicism, is all about harmony! What harmony means can be simplified as "fitting in with the world in a beautiful and orderly manner". The Stoics would say to "live according to nature". In this episode, I'll be discussing harmony - what it means, why it's important, and how to live harmoniously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices