June 14th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - Try The Other Handle

"Every event has two handles - one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can't. If your brother does you wrong, don't grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead, use the other - that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries."

~ Epictetus, Enchiridion, 43

June 13th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - Life Is A Battlefield

"Don't you know life is like a military campaign? One must serve on watch, another in reconnaissance, another on the front line . . . So it is for us - each person's life is a kind of battle, and a long and varied one too. You must keep watch like a soldier, and do everything commanded . . . You have been stationed in a key post, not some lowly place, and not for a short time but for life."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.31-36

June 12th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - A Trained Mind Is Better Than Any Script

"In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, 'Tell me what to do!' What advice could I possibly give? No, a far better request is, 'Train my mind to adapt to any circumstance.' . . . In this way, if circumstances take you off script . . . you won't be desperate for new prompting."

~ Epictetus, Discourses, 2.2.20b-1; 24b-25a

June 11th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - Just Don't Make Things Worse

"How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!"

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.18.8

June 10th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - You Can Do It

"If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible - for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.19

June 9th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - Solve Problems Early

"There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn't modest and easily intervened - but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won't be able to control when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along - it's easier to slow it down than to supplant it."

~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 106.2b-3a

June 8th Reading from The Daily Stoic (Round 2) - Brick By Boring Brick

"You must build up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible - and no one can keep you from this. But there will be some external obstacle! Perhaps, but no obstacle to acting with justice, self-control, and wisdom. But what if some other area of my action is thwarted? Well, gladly accept the obstacle for what it is and shift your attention to what is given, and another action will immediately take its place, one that better fits the life you are building."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.32