The Daily Stoic - It’s OK To Cry

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

We know that Marcus Aurelius cried when he was told that his favorite tutor passed away. We know that he cried that day in court, when he was overseeing a case and the attorney mentioned the countless souls who perished in the plague that had ravaged Rome.We can imagine Marcus cried many other times. This was a man who was betrayed by one of his most trusted generals. This was a man who lost his wife of 35 years. This was a man who lost eightchildren, including all but one of his sons. Marcus didn’t weep because he was weak. He didn’t weep because he was un-Stoic. He cried because he was human. Because these very painful experiences made him sad.Antoninus, Marcus’s stepfather, seemed to be a bit more in touch with his emotions than his young stepson. He seemed to understand how hard Marcus worked to master his temper and his ambitions and his temptations and that this occasionally made him feel bottled up. So when his stepson’s tutor died and he watched the boy sob uncontrollably, he wouldn’t allow anyone to try to calm him down or remind him of the need for a prince to maintain his composure. “Neither philosophy nor empire,” Antoninus said, “takes away natural feeling.”The same goes for you. No matter how much philosophy you’ve read. No matter how much older you’ve gotten or how important your position or how many eyes are on you. It’s OK to cry. You’re only human. It’s okay to act like one.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystowach.com. It's okay to cry. We know that Marcus really has cried when he was told that his favorite tutor had passed away.

We know that he cried that day in court when he was overseeing the case and the attorney mentioned the countless souls who had perished in the plague that had ravaged Rome. We can imagine Marcus cried many other times. This was a man who was betrayed by one of his most trusted generals. This was a man who lost his wife of 35 years. This was a man who lost eight children, including all but one of his sons. Marcus didn't weep because he was weak.

He didn't weep because he was unstewic. He cried because he was human. Because these very painful experiences made him sad. Antoninus, Marcus's stepfather, seemed to be a bit more in touch with his emotions than his stepson's. He seemed to understand how hard Marcus worked to master his destructive passions, and that this occasionally made him feel bottled up. So when his stepson's tutor died and he watched the boy sob uncontrollably, he would not allow anyone to try to calm him down or remind him of the need for a prince to maintain his composure. Neither philosophy nor empire, Antoninus said, takes away natural feeling.

The same goes for you, no matter how much philosophy you've read, no matter how much older you've gotten, or how important your position or how many eyes are on you. It's okay to cry, it's okay to be human, you are one. Please check out the Daily Stoke Store where we sell products that we ourselves use that are designed to take these stoke lessons to the next level, just go to dailystoke.com slash store. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily Stoke early and ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen early and ad free with

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