"Repeated efforts to be one-up on the universe may eventually reveal their futility. Don’t try to get rid of the ego-sensation. Take it, so long as it lasts, as a feature or play of the total process — like a cloud or wave, or like feeling warm or cold, or anything else that happens of itself. Getting rid of one’s ego is the last resort of invincible egoism! It simply confirms and strengthens the reality of the feeling. But when this feeling of separateness is approached and accepted like any other sensation, it evaporates like the mirage that it is. This is why I am not overly enthusiastic about the various “spiritual exercises” in meditation or yoga which some consider essential for release from the ego. For when practiced in order to “get” some kind of spiritual illumination or awakening, they strengthen the fallacy that the ego can toss itself away by a tug at its own bootstraps." - Alan Watts Spiritual egotism is the attempt to use what is of a higher nature to fulfill the desires of that of a lower nature. To think you are somehow more spiritual or awakened than another person because of what you practice is in itself self-diminishing as anything spiritual. The ego is important and necessary to have an individual experience. You couldn’t say, “I’ve gotten rid of my ego” without an ego. “I” would be a meaningless concept without the ego. The ego or “I” is merely a measuring of your individual conscious experience. 

“Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own inner resources. The trails we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths. Prudent people look beyond the incident itself and seek to form the habit of putting it to good use. On the occasion of an accidental event, don’t just react in a haphazard fashion: remember to turn inward and ask what resources you have for dealing with it. Dig deeply. You possess strengths you might not realize you have. Find the right one. Use it.” -Epictetus"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." -Marcus Aurelius.

When we judge others, we are actually judging ourselves. Humans have come into being for the sake of each other, so either teach them or learn to bear them.' -Marcus AureliusContinuing to judge someone after the moment of noticing their wrongdoing rather than teaching them better or giving them feedback only serves to hold you back from freeing yourself.Silent judgement in your own mind or gossiping continuously about others keeps the noise going. It prevents your soul from progressing in its development.

1. The time is ALWAYS now. Master your relationship with the present moment.- Do things right away to prevent being weighed down and cluttered by unfinished tasks. Quick decisions.2. Do less, but do it better. Eliminate unnecessary actions by eliminating unnecessary assumptions. Recognize the difference between urgent and important. Know your outcome.- Take as much off your plate as possible, and focus on what is important. Simplify and reduce to essentials. - “If you seek tranquility, do less. Or (more accurately) do what’s essential. Do less, better. Because most of what we do or say is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more tranquility. But to eliminate the necessary actions, we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well.”  — Marcus Aurelius3. Meditate on your own mortality. Memento Mori

  Seneca Quotes, “Letters From A Stoic: Letter II”: “You do not tear from place to place and unsettle yourself with one move after another. Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind. Nothing to my way of thinking, is better proof of a well ordered mind that a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass the time in his own company. To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”“Food that is vomited up as soon as it is eaten is not assimilated into the body and does not do one any good. Nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent changes of treatment.Nothing is so useful that it can be of any service in mere passing.” -Seneca, Seneca Quote “Letters From A Stoic: Letter III”: “People who never relax and people who are invariably in a relaxed state merit your disapproval — the former as much as the latter. For a delight in bustling about is not industrious — it is only the restless energy of a haunted mind. And the state of mind that looks on all activity as tiresome is not true repose, but a spineless inertia.”

Chrysippus The Fighter: Philosophy as “a cultivation of rightness of reason.”Stoicism is “a philosophy of endurance and inner strength- of transcending one’s limits and measuring oneself against a higher internal standard” -Lives of The Stoics, Ryan Holiday"Runners in a race ought to compete and strive to win as hard as they can, but by no means should they trip their competitors or give them a shove. So too in life; it is not wrong to seek after the things useful in life, but to do so whole depriving someone else is not just.” -Chysippus.Part of Chrysippus’s ethical breakdowns was the development of Stoicism’s concept of Sympatheia. This was rooted in Zeno’s belief that we all belong to one common community. “Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe.” -Marcus AureliusRemember human beings are made for each other.If it’s bad for humanity it’s bad for us.“Be strict with yourself, and patient with others.” -Marcus Aurelius 

If you always live with the future in mind, you’ll miss out on life. The most important moments (and fondest memories) happen unexpectedly and in the process, not the outcome or destination. Sometimes it’s nothing your mind could have even conceived… something someone says to you (a joke, a story, a compliment) or a look someone gives you. Follow through on what you commit to. Do not simply try to rush a process to expedite the discomfort of tougher times.Fall in love with the process of what you’re choosing to do with your time. 

In this episode, we interview Eric Duran. Eric is a software engineer, mentor, and content creator. Eric shares with us how he went from humble beginnings to working as a software engineer at the top of his field, at one of the largest tech companies in the world!You can find Eric at @champagnecoder on Instagram for content on life lessons, career advancement, work/lifestyle setup, and technical interview prep!

One of the biggest problems we face in society is that we’ve been taught not to trust ourselves.Lack of trust in ourselves leads to a disproportionate amount of overthinking and indecisiveness.So many decisions to make, What if I’m wrong? What if I make a mistake? What if I fail?Indecisiveness and overthinking comes from a lack of clarity on what direction you want to move in. It comes from a lack of sincerity in yourself.Being performance oriented will get in the way of your intuition because it attempts to please others or present you in a different light than you truly are.Learn to listen to the voice of your unconscious mind. It is the quite voiceless voice that is more of a feeling and at the very most a whisper.Ask yourself: What do I really want? Is that really it?Your unconscious mind (intuition) will answer immediately. The voice isn’t loud and won’t attempt to convince you but it will make itself known via emotion. Detach from the outcome and be willing to be wrong.Decide on what you really want and go there! Have an aim and purpose in why you want to move in that direction.Use emotions like a compass. If your intentions aren’t in the right place, you’ll know. Something will feel off even if you’re doing “the right thing.”

      Marcus Aurelius: The 5 Ways The Human Soul Degrades Itself: The Human Soul Degrades Itself:1. To be disgruntled at anything that happens is a kind of secession from nature, which comprises the nature of all things.2. When it turns its back on another person or sets out to do it harm, as the souls of the angry do.3. When it is overpowered by pleasure or pain4. When it puts on a mask and does or says something artificial or false5. When it allows its action and impulse to be without purpose, to be random or disconnected: even the smallest things ought to be directed toward a goal.