The Daily Stoic - Can You Help Others First?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy

Starting point is 00:00:43 that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Can you help others first? Stoicism, it was said by one early 20th century historian, was the stern nurse of heroes in the ancient world. As a philosophy, it was tough. It was demanding, but it made great men and women.

Starting point is 00:01:09 It created heroes that those tough and scary times required. Your kados, your portions, your epictetises, and your Marcus Aureliases. Well, here we are, again, in tough times, a global pandemic has struck wide swaths of the population. Governments are struggling under the load. Economies are crashing. These are the kinds of moments that make average people want a shrink to turn inward,

Starting point is 00:01:34 to focus on themselves, but a stoic resists that impulse. Remember what we believe, what we hold up as the highest virtues, courage, self-discipline, justice, wisdom, that is not being afraid, not giving into our baser instincts, not putting yourself above others, not getting lost in what's up close, but seeing the bigger picture. The next few weeks and months may call for you to exercise all of those traits, as crises often do. Most of all, they're going to call for you to be heroic, which we can define as putting others above yourself. That means, yes, eating the loss of some

Starting point is 00:02:12 trip you already paid for to reduce the chance of spreading germs. That means, yes, sharing resources with others less fortunate. That may mean paying people for jobs they're not able to do at the moment, or it may mean doing a job if you have an essential occupation at risk to yourself. That may mean declining to go to the doctor for some minor ailment or routine matter, so as not to tax the system. It may mean if things get really bad, insisting that someone be there, your children, or some stranger gets treatment before you do. That's what the stillings have always done when events turn.

Starting point is 00:02:50 That's what it means to believe, encourage self-discipline, justice and wisdom. Remember what Epictetus said about embodying philosophy, not just studying it. Remember Marcus Aurelius, there comes a time and we have to stop talking about what a good person is like and actually be one. We have to show what this philosophy is about. We have to put others first. We have to be heroic. I'm holding in my hand our four virtues, medallion for daily stoic, courage, justice, temperance, wisdom.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Try not to exchange these for others. You know, it's always good for me to have physical reminders of these things. I know I've heard from a lot of people that have said the same thing. So if you want to check that out, you can do it at dailystoke.com slash virtues. But most of all, I hope you really take this advice seriously. Be good to each other, be safe, be prepared, and we'll get through this. and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

The Daily Stoic - Can You Help Others First?

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