Perennial Meditations

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribePerennial Meditations is a newsletter (and podcast) designed to help listeners never stop learning how to live.📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods---  🖇️ Stay Connected: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods---  🦉 Additional Resources: Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archiveListen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribePerennial Meditations is a newsletter (and podcast) designed to help listeners never stop learning how to live.📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods---  🖇️ Stay Connected: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods---  🦉 Additional Resources: Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archiveListen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

In this enlightening discussion, the host delves into Epictetus's insights on the limits of philosophy, emphasizing what’s within our control. Listeners are encouraged to embrace the slow, steady journey of self-improvement, illustrated through a captivating fig metaphor. There’s a powerful moment reflecting on living an examined life, urging self-assessment and introspection through the lenses of Seneca and C.S. Lewis. It's a thoughtful exploration of how philosophy can guide personal growth and understanding.

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome to another edition of the Dying Every Day series, which delivers guided Stoic meditations on the art of living. This episode is available to all subscribers (although not every episode in the series is); if you enjoy it, please consider becoming a Perennial Meditations member on Substack. There, you’ll find the transcripts of these episodes, along with many other benefits!In this week’s meditation, we’re exploring the art of conquering oneself — through a selected passage from Epictetus.---🖇️ Stay Connected: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods--- 🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast: Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archiveListen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

Explore the wisdom of Seneca as he delves into the importance of cultivating a well-ordered mind. Discover the art of reading through deep engagement with select authors rather than superficial consumption. The discussion prompts listeners to reflect on the true essence of wealth and the essentials for a fulfilling life. Dive into timeless Stoic philosophy and practical insights that can enhance your daily living.

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome to another edition of the Dying Every Day series, which delivers guided Stoic meditations on the art of living. This episode is available to all subscribers (although not every episode in the series is); if you enjoy it, please consider becoming a Perennial Meditations member on Substack. There, you’ll find the transcripts of these episodes, along with many other benefits!---🖇️ Stay Connected: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods--- 🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast: Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archiveListen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

📮 Want tools for the art of living? Sign up here: https://perennial.substack.com/subscribeWelcome back to the Sundays with Seneca series on Perennial Meditations, which explores Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s writings and Stoic philosophy. Each meditation includes selected passages from one of Seneca’s letters in search of ancient lessons on the art of living. In this week’s Sundays with Seneca series, we’re exploring selected passages from a letter known today as On Saving Time.---🖇️ Stay Connected: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerennialPodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/perennialmeditations/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PerennialPods--- 🦉 Additional Resources Related to the Podcast: Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archiveListen to more podcasts: https://www.perennialleader.com/podcasts  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

Sundays with Seneca explores Lucius Annaeus Seneca's writings and Stoic philosophy. Each week, I share a selected reading from one of Seneca's letters in search of ancient lessons on the art of living.In a letter known today as Some Arguments in Favor of the Simple Life, Seneca wrote,“I was shipwrecked before I got aboard.” I shall not add how that happened, lest you may reckon this also as another of the Stoic paradoxes; and yet I shall, whenever you are willing to listen, nay, even though you be unwilling, prove to you that these words are by no means untrue, nor so surprising as one at first sight would think. Meantime, the journey showed me this: how much we possess that is unnecessary; and how easily we can make up our minds to do away with things whose loss, whenever it is necessary to part with them, we do not feel. […] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

The Dying Every Day series delivers guided meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage (from an original Stoic text), and a reflection prompt to consider. These meditations are designed to help you (and me) reflect on what it means to live a good life.Change is the Only Constant“The river where you set your foot just now is gone—those waters giving way to this, now this.” (often translated as “No one steps in the same river twice….”)— Heraclitus, FragmentsSelected PassageIn this week’s meditation, we explore the art of living (and dying) through a selected reading from Seneca.Infinitely swift is the flight of time, as those see more clearly who are looking backwards. When we are intent on the present, we do not notice it; so gentle is the passage of time’s headlong flight.Do you ask the reason for this?All past time is in the same place; it presents the same aspect to us; it lies together. Everything slips into the same abyss. Besides, an event that is a brief compass cannot contain long intervals. The time we spend in living is but a point, nay, even less than a point. But this point of time, tiny as it is, nature has mocked by making it seem outwardly of longer duration; she has taken one portion thereof and made it infancy, another childhood, another youth, another the gradual slope, so to speak, from youth to old age, and old age itself is still another. How many steps for how short a climb!+ Adapted from On the Shortness of LifeReflection ExerciseConsider reflecting on how you make sense of change. In his Meditations (or notes to himself), Marcus Aurelius observed that constant change is not something to fear. Why should we look anxiously at the prospect of change and dissolution? Change is in accordance with nature: “and nothing harmful is in accordance with nature.” How would your life transform if you started to embrace (and even cherish) change? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perennial.substack.com/subscribe

Delve into the intriguing relationship between thoughts and reality. Ancient philosophers like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca are revisited, providing timeless wisdom. The discussion encourages introspection on how our thought patterns shape our experiences and decisions. It's a blend of philosophy and psychology, stimulating a richer understanding of mental perspective. Perfect for anyone seeking to cultivate a more mindful approach to life.