The Daily Stoic - This Is How To Treat Your Brain | The Marks of a Rational Person

Episode Date: April 22, 2021

“On the one hand, the Stoics were big believers in the power of reason. They believed we were rational creatures, capable of thinking away through all the distractions and impulses and biases of the mind and body. On the other hand, they knew that people were crazy—that our mind, our thoughts were hardly infallible and didn’t always have our best interests at heart. ”Ryan explains the difference between the brain and the mind, and reads The Daily Stoic’s entry of the day, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.This episode is also brought to you by LMNT, the maker of electrolyte drink mixes that help you stay active at home, work, the gym, or anywhere else. Electrolytes are a key part of a happy, healthy body. Right now you can receive a free LMNT Sample Pack for only $5 for shipping. To claim this exclusive deal you must go to drinkLMNT.com/dailystoic. Get your FREE Sample Pack now. If you don’t love it, they will refund your $5 no questions asked.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@daily_stoic 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 another episode of the Daily Stoke Podcast. On Thursdays, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the book, The Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author and collaborator,

Steve Enhancelman. And so today, we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epititus Markis Relius, Seneca, then some analysis for me. And then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works. 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. This is how to treat your brain. On the one hand, the Stoics were big believers in the power of reason. They believed we were rational creatures capable of thinking through all the distractions and impulses and biases of the mind and body. On the other hand, they knew people were crazy, that our mind, that our thoughts were hardly infallible and they didn't always have

our best interests at heart. So how do you square these two ideas? That markets really says at one point telling themselves to trust themselves and just pages later telling themselves to be suspicious of themselves. How do you square living in accordance with nature with all the very unnatural habits and systems in self discipline that the Stoics deliberately practiced. Perhaps an interesting comment from Jerry Seinfeld on the Tim Ferris podcast can help us.

He says, you gotta treat your brain like a dog you just got. The mind is infinite in wisdom. The brain is stupid. The brain is a stupid little dog that is easily trained. Do not confuse the mind with the brain. The brain is easy to master. You just have to confine it and that is done through repetition and systemization. The brain versus the mind. Perfect. The mind is our nature, our incredible gift. We were given at birth, but we are also stuck with our silly brains, our puppy-like brains that mean well,

but get into so much trouble and mischief. A puppy you don't train turns into a nightmare or a worse aliability that can hurt someone. So we train them. We contain them. We watch them, and of course love and understand and play with them, while always remaining in charge. The marks of a rational person.

This is the Daily Stoke entry for April 22nd, and it's a short one. These are the characteristics of the rational soul, self-awareness, self-examination, and self-determination. It reaps its own harvests, it succeeds in its own purpose. Marcus Aurelius' meditations 11-1. To be rational today we have to do just three things. First, we must look inward. Next, we must examine ourselves critically. Finally, we must make our own decisions uninhibited by biases or popular notions. And I thought I would also read Gregory Hayes' wonderful translation of the same passage,

because he seems to do so much so well, and he's always been my favorite. 11-1, on the daily stucke, he says, this is a long one. He says, characteristics of the rational soul, self-perception, self-examination, and the power to make of itself whatever it wants. It reaps its own harvest, unlike plants, and in a different way animals. That's a parenthetical who's yield is gathered by others. Then he says, it reaches its intended goal no matter where the limit of its life is set. Not like dancing or theater or things like that where the performance is incomplete, if it's broken off in the middle. But at any point, no matter which one you pick, it has fulfilled its mission and done its

work completely. So it can say, I have what I came for. It surveys the world and the empty space around it and the way it's put together. It delves into the endlessness of time to extend its grasp and comprehension of the periodic births and rebirths that the world goes through. It knows that those who come after us will see nothing different, that those who came before us so know more than we do, and that anyone with 40 years behind him in eyes and his head is seen both the past and the future alike. Also the characteristics of the rational soul, affection for its neighbors,

truthfulness, humility, not to go any place above itself, which is characteristic of law as well. No difference here between the logos of rationality or that of justice. I think what Marcus is really saying here, whether you look at the short one or the long one, I think he's really saying that the rational soul or rationality is intrinsically wonderful. It's done for its own sake. We have self-awareness, we practice self-examination, we seek self-determination. Why not? Because it makes us more successful, not because it makes us happier, but because it is itself a form of human flourishing to not do these things, although they occasionally cause pain, to not do these things is to punish the self. We are designed for those traits. We

are designed for self-examination, self-awareness, and self-determination. And that's how we reap our own harvest. That's how we become, who were meant to become. That's how we fulfill our purpose as human beings. That's today's entry. That's the mark of a rational person. I hope you are trying to strive towards that. I know that I am. I don't always get there, but I feel like I'm getting closer.

And I hope you are too. And I think this is what we also try to do in the Daily Stoke Habits Challenge. It's habits for success, habits for happiness. What are the habits, what are the practices that we have to put in place to keep our mind under control? It's also what we touch on in the Daily Stoke Slayer Stress Challenge. You can check both those out, DailyStoic.com slash habits, or DailyStoic.com slash stress,

or you can get both of them totally for free if you sign up for Daily Stoic Life. That's our membership platform program. You get extra episodes for me, a bunch of other cool stuff. Plus, you get all our challenges and courses. Check that out at DailyStokelife.com. 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 Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

Thank you.