Time to think…about leisure and study
“Leisure without study is death – a tomb for the living person.” Seneca, Moral Letters. Need we say more about this? If we choose not to, perhaps then we fall victim to the very concept itself, in that we look no deeper into the reasons why we can so easily waste away our time in […]
Time to think…about reason and resolve
“Remember that your ruling reason becomes unconquerable when it rallies and relies on itself, so that it won’t do anything contrary to its own will, even if its position is irrational. How much more unconquerable if its judgements are careful and made rationally? Therefore, the mind freed from passions is an impenetrable fortress – a […]
Time to think…about your inner beat
“When forced, as it seems, by circumstances into utter confusion, get a hold of yourself quickly. Don’t be locked out of the rhythm any longer than necessary. You’ll be able to keep the beat if you are constantly returning to it.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Know the sound of your own drum and beat it yourself […]
Time to think…about wrestling with life
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks.”Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. What challenges might you face today? When limbering up, what core strengths will help get you through? It is the sudden and unexpected events in our lives that […]
Time to think…about change and free will
“Remember that to change your mind and to follow someone’s correction are consistent with a free will. For the action is yours alone – to fulfil its purpose in keeping with your impulse and judgement, and yes, with your intelligence.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. No-one can make you change your mind: that power remains firmly with […]
Time to think…about pain
“Whenever you suffer pain, keep in mind that it’s nothing to be ashamed of and that it can’t degrade your guiding intelligence, nor keep it from acting rationally and for the common good. And in most cases you should be helped by the saying of Epicurus, that pain is never unbearable or unending, so you […]
Time to think…about living gracefully
“What if someone despises me? Let them see to it. But I will see to it that I won’t be found doing or saying anything contemptible. What if someone hates me? Let them see to that. But I will see to it that I’m kind and good-natured to all, and prepared to show even the […]
Time to think…about perseverance
“Success comes to the lowly and to the poorly-talented, but the characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life.” Seneca, On Providence. As Churchill once remarked, “If you’re going through hell, keep going!”. Persevere. Make sense of what is happening. Find meaning. Orientate yourself to that reality […]
Anxiety – Thought-Provoking
“When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun with nettles.” Horace Walpole, 1779. In this series of five emails and posts, we’ve looked at what anxiety is, how we need to prepare for anxiety-provoking moments by taking time for quiet reflection, how to deal with unwanted feelings in the […]
Anxiety – Lifestyle Choices
“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven.” William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 1 Scene 1 In 1965, a research study began in the Californian urban community of Alameda County. Its aim was to explore the links between lifestyle and longevity, and 7,000 residents were involved. The longitudinal […]
Anxiety – Right Now!
“Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.” American Proverb We learned in the second of this series of posts on anxiety that it is essential to find some time in your busy daily life for quiet reflective thought, a time when you can calmly think about how you react to challenges and […]
Anxiety – Be Prepared!
“In trouble, to be troubled, is to have your trouble doubled.” Daniel Defoe, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Anxiety is something that we will all experience in our lifetimes. It’s Mental Health Awareness Week all this week: it’s also the start of GCSE exams in England. My daughter at breakfast yesterday morning was exhibiting […]
Anxiety – what is it?
“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” Arthur Somers Roche, playwright It’s Mental Health Awareness Week (15-19 May 23) and the topic this year is anxiety (last year it was loneliness, and I hope you’ve all managed to […]
Time to think…about the first judgements we make
“I’ll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying.” Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind. What judgements do we make about the characteristics of things while ignoring whether they fulfil the initial purpose for which we engage with them? How quick are we to dismiss fundamental values and virtues because we place […]
Time to think…about importance being relative
“It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. There are some things in life that we don’t […]
Time to think…about being miserable in advance
“It’s ruinous for the soul to be anxious about the future and miserable in advance of misery, engulfed by anxiety that the things it desires might remain its own until the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest – by longing for things to come it will lose the ability to […]
Time to think…about your reasoned choice
“Nothing outside my reasoned choice can hinder or harm it – my reasoned choice alone can do this to itself. If we could lean this way whenever we fail, and would blame only ourselves and remember that nothing but opinion is the cause of a troubled mind and uneasiness, then by God, I swear we […]
Time to think…about reasons, not emotions
“You’ve endured countless troubles – all from not letting your ruling reason do the work it was made for – enough already!” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. On those occasions when you’ve thought and acted like a prize gibbon, what do you remember about the event afterwards? How realistic and accurate were your thoughts at the time? How […]
Time to think…about habits before theory
“When the problem arose for us whether habit or theory was better for getting virtue – if by theory is meant what teaches us correct conduct, and by habit we mean being accustomed to act accordingly to this theory – Musonius thought habit to be more effective.” Musonius Rufus, Lectures. When you know what needs to […]
Time to think…about perfectionism and perseverance
“We don’t abandon our pursuits because we despair of ever perfecting them.” Epictetus, Discourses. Having an all-or-nothing mindset is a sure route to unhappiness. The old adage that it’s not about the winning but about the taking part applies in many fields of your life. Don’t waste much time in worrying about getting it right, winning […]
Time to think…about facts, not hearsay
“Don’t tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report. It’s been reported to you that someone is speaking badly about you. This is the report – the report wasn’t that you’ve been harmed. I see that my son is sick – but not that his life is at risk. So always stay within […]
Time to think…about taking your first step
Time to think…about choosing to live well, wherever
“Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well; life is also in the demands of court, there too one can live well.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. To live ‘well’ is to be clear about your values and to live by them. The pragmatism required of the situation need not prevent you from living by […]
Time to think…about applying yourself to thinking
“Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties – hard times can be softened, tight squeezes widened, and heavy loads made lighter for those who apply the right pressure.” Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind. Apply yourself to logical thinking – abstract, objective, facts-based exploration of the situation you find yourself in – and avoid where possible becoming engrossed […]
Time to think…about silence
“Silence is a lesson learned from the many sufferings of life.” Seneca, Thyestes. When you can listen to someone a little longer, why talk? We feel the need to justify ourselves – in showing we belong to a group, or displaying our strength in resistance to an insult or perceived wrong being committed, especially when we […]
Time to think…about living in the moment
“At this moment, you aren’t on a journey, but wandering about, being driven from place to place, even though what you seek – to live well – is found in all places. Is there any place more full of confusion than the Forum? Yet even there you can live at peace, if needed.” Seneca, Moral Letters. […]
Time to think…about your attitude
“Indeed, how could exile be an obstacle to a person’s own cultivation, or to attaining virtue when no one has ever been cut off from learning or practising what is needed by exile?” Musonius Rufus, Lectures. There is something new in every experience we have. As flowing water means the river is never the same river, […]
Time to think…about acceptance
“That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you a laughing-stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on […]