The Daily Stoic - Look For The Good

Episode Date: April 18, 2019

Laura Ingalls Wilder had a hard scrabble existence. From the Kansas prairies to the backwoods of Florida, she and her family eked out a life from some of the most unforgiving environments on the planet. That’s what being a pioneer was really like. It wasn’t glamorous, it was hard.Yet, what comes through in her work is the joy and happiness and beauty she managed to see despite all that hardship. “There is good in everything,” she later wrote, “if only we look for it.”That’s what many of the best Stoic exercises are about—looking for the good. Or at least realizing that we have some choice in seeing things one way or the other. As Epictetus said, ultimately it’s not things that upset us, it’s our judgment and opinions about things that do. So, conversely, we choose not only to not be upset, but to be happy, to be grateful, to see life as an adventure that we can make the most of. The task before you today is to look for that good, in anything and everything that you do. Because it’s there. If Laura Ingalls Wilder could find it in a one room cabin, amidst tragedy and terror and pain and pestilence, then you can find it at the office, in traffic and in the confines of modern life. We all can. 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. 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. Look for the good. Laura Ingalls-Wilder had a hard, scrabble existence.

From the prairies to the backwoods, she and her family eaked out a life on some of the most unforgiving environments on the planet. That's what being a pioneer was really like. It wasn't glamorous. It was hard. Yet what comes through in all her writing is the joy and happiness and beauty she managed to see despite all that hardship. There is good in everything she once wrote if only we look for it. That's what many of the best stoic exercises are about, looking for the good, or at least realizing that we have some choice in seeing things one way or the other. As Epictetus said, ultimately, it's not things that upset us. It's our judgment and opinions about things that do. So conversely,

we can choose not only not to be upset, but to be happy, to be grateful, to see life as an adventure that we can make the most of. The task before you today is to look for that good in anything and everything that you do because it's there. If Laura Ingalls Wilder could find it in a one-room cabin amidst tragedy and terror and pain and pestilence, then you can find it at the office and traffic and in the confines of modern life we all can. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoke email, go to dailystoke.com slash email.

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