The Daily Stoic - This Is What The World Thinks Of Your Dreams | The Wake Up

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to The Daily Stoic early and ad free right now. Just join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcast. history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of stoic intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about whatever it is you happen to be doing. So let's get into it. This is what the world thinks of your dreams. Oh, you don't like that it worked out this way? Oh, it's not how you hoped it would go? Not what you planned for? Not what you deserved?

Starting point is 00:01:00 What do you think Marcus Aurelius thought? Twenty years of peace and prosperity, four predecessors whose reigns went more or less swimmingly, but almost to the day he took over, it was one thing after another, floods and wars, a plague, coups and nagging health problems, funeral after funeral of his own children. Sure, he had wealth and power,

Starting point is 00:01:23 but were the lyrics from Les Mis ever truer for a person? Marcus hadn't even wanted to be emperor and now he was king of a nightmare. Here's the thing, the world doesn't care about your dreams. It makes no accommodations for your expectations. Does not give anyone what they deserve. Still, we have to figure it out. We have to decide how we're going to respond. We have to get through it.

Starting point is 00:01:58 We have to make the best of it, which by the way is what Marcus Aurelius did. In fact, he became great because of it. He may not have gotten the good great because of it. He may not have gotten the good fortune that he deserved. He may have dreamed of something very different, but all of that is irrelevant because it made him the Marcus Aurelius we know today. It made him what his nature demanded. The Wake Up This is from this week's entry in the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 days of writing and reflection

Starting point is 00:02:34 on the art of living by yours truly and my wonderful collaborator Stephen Hanselman, who I also worked on the Daily Stoic with. Today's entry. Each morning when you sit with the journal and think about Stoicism, you are following in the footsteps of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and all the other great Stoics. The Stoics did not face each day on a whim, but instead with preparation and discipline. They spent real time thinking and anticipating what was to come over the course of a day, of a week, and of a year. Each morning activity, including journaling, including listening to this podcast, anything

Starting point is 00:03:11 you do in the morning for the stoic is designed to make you ready to face the day, and you can be ready for the day as well. Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning. What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion? What for tranquility? What am I, a mere body, a state holder, a reputation? None of these things. What then? A rational being. What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions. How did I steer away from serenity? What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial and uncaring? What did I fail to do in all these things? That's from Epictetus's Discourses 4.6. On those mornings when you struggle with getting up,

Starting point is 00:03:51 keep this thought in mind, I am awakening to the work of a human being. Why then am I annoyed that I was going to do what I am made for, for the very things for which I was put into this world? Was I made for this, to snuggle under the covers and keep warm? So pleasurable. What then were you made for pleasure, in short, to be coddled or to exert yourself? That's from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 5.1. I think

Starting point is 00:04:16 maybe the first passage, it really hit me in meditations. Anyway, this idea of owning the morning, starting the day off right, is really so important. There's that expression, what is well begun is half done. You know, I don't know when you're listening to this, obviously, I hope it's in the morning. Maybe it's on your commute. Maybe it's as you brushing your teeth or you've got it on a Sonos player or something, you're walking around your house. The point is how you start the day is really important. For me, as I've said before, that my number one rule in the morning is I don't check my phone. I don't sleep with my phone in the room. I sleep with it in the kitchen, plugged in. When I go to bed, like 10,

Starting point is 00:04:50 11, and then when I wake up, six or seven, that's a good chunk of time without the phone, first and foremost. And then my wife usually gets up before, our new routine is my wife wakes up before, she goes upstairs, she works. I get up with the kids. I give them the snack, put on their jackets because it's been cold in Austin, and then we go for a walk on the road by our house. We go for this walk. Depending on how light or foggy it is, it might change the route

Starting point is 00:05:14 because I don't want to get hit by a car, but we usually do about three miles. And then we come back, give them their breakfast. My wife is showering or on the Peloton or maybe she's cooked breakfast for them and whatever I go back into the bedroom I sit down with my journals including the daily stoic journal Which the passage I just read is from and then I do my sort of thinking so the daily stoic journal is supposed to be

Starting point is 00:05:37 You do a morning reflection and evening reflection just because I've been busy lately I do the evening reflection in the morning So I'll reflect on how I did with the thing I was thinking about yesterday. I sort of set my intention for the day as well. And so what I like about the journal is just the questions, right? So I'm reading this, I do these a little bit before,

Starting point is 00:05:57 but so let's see what today's question was. I'm recording this on the, I guess today's the 23rd. So today's question was, if I relaxed my tight grip on life, what would happen? So I'm taking a minute, I'm just thinking about what am I trying to control too hard? What am I trying to force? What can I let go of? And then yesterday's was about what wisdom will I create? So I was sort of reflecting on what I'm learning, what I'm pushing myself on, what I'm thinking about. So it's just a wonderful little part of the morning and it's been an integral part of my day.

Starting point is 00:06:29 Epictetus says, every day and night, keep thoughts like these at hand, write them, read them aloud, talk to yourself and others about them. That's what Stoicism is, this sort of interplay, this engaging with the material and re-engaging it. Epictetus, I love all the questions he's asking himself. What am I lacking? You know,

Starting point is 00:06:45 disrupting my tranquility. What am I? Like, who am I? What's demanded of me? You know, he's reminding himself to meditate on his actions. He's looking at how he steered away from serenity. You know, what did he do wrong? Where did he fall short? Where did he fail? And so, if you can start your morning with some of this reflection, it's really important. And I'm glad you're listening to this, but as we sort of wrapped up the year, it's not that one-way conversation. It's not the Stokes talking to you. It's not my writing talking to you. It's not the self-improvement books you're reading. It's not the podcast you're listening to. It should also be what are you putting out there? What are you asking yourself? What are you thinking about? That's how we improve. That's how we grow and I think that's a great habit for the year So if you're not journaling you should if you are journaling

Starting point is 00:07:29 I would push you to sort of ask yourself these questions but then I'd also just you know, make sure you have some of that time for that sort of stillness and reflection and Contemplation in the morning and make sure you're asking yourself questions in the morning I think even the walk that I'm doing, I'm thinking about stuff. My mind is engaged. That's what helps me kick off a great day. And as we said, what's well begun is half done. So let's get out there.

Starting point is 00:07:53 I wish you a great morning, whatever time zone you're in, looking forward to connecting with you over the next 12 months and making this a great year. Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple of years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please spread the word, tell people about it, and this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you. If you like The Daily Stoic and thanks for listening, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. And before you go, would you tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey on Wondery.com slash survey.

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The Daily Stoic - This Is What The World Thinks Of Your Dreams | The Wake Up

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