The Daily Stoic - This Is A Great Pleasure | We Are A Product Of Our Habits

Episode Date: May 8, 2023

Of the four Stoic virtues, Marcus Aurelius said justice was the most important. To him, it was “the source of all the other virtues.” After all, how impressive are courage or discipline if they are only used to serve self-interest? What good is wisdom if not put to use for the whole world?---And in today's Daily Stoic Journal reading, Ryan discusses why it's so important for us to pay close attention to our habits in order use them as a positive force in our lives, and he outlines some strategies for doing so.🤝 To see more details on our fundraising results, or to donate to families in need, visit givedirectly.org/stoic.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee 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 Podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stokes, illustrated with stories from 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're happy to be doing. So let's get into it. This is a great pleasure. Of the four-stoked virtues, Marx really says that justice was the most important. To him, it was the source of all the other virtues. After all, how impressive our courage or discipline if they're only used for self-interest. Well, good is wisdom if not put to use to make the world better. Over and over and over again, the Stokes talk about community and partnership and fellowship and

neighborliness and our relation to a larger whole. If you remember, one of Marcus Realis' epithets for himself was cooperative. And it's that belief, the mutual interdependence among everything in the universe that we are all one that inspired our sympathetic one here at Daily Stoke. And it's that belief, the mutual interdependence among everything in the universe that we are all one that inspired our Sympathetic coin here at Daily Stoke and it's also what inspired us back in December to ask you all to contribute to our effort through Give directly to raise money for families and poverty Thanks to the generosity of the Daily Stoke and daily dad communities We raise more than 32,000000 for families in a village in Rwanda.

Give Directly's field team ended up providing each family with about an $850 cash transfer. The equivalent of a year's worth of income for people who are used to surviving unless then two bucks a day. They actually shot this really cool video from some of the residents showing the impact that the donations had on their lives. My children used to work to school with no shoes. They only cost one dollar but we couldn't afford them. When I now meet someone on the streets, they tell me how lives have changed completely.

It is amazing. I use the first payment for teller and listens. I'm living my dreams as we speak. One resident didn't even have a place to stand when it rained. So with the money they bought materials to repair their home. Another woman explained that with the money that we donated, she bought a sewing machine and took tailoring lessons. For the first time, her children got new clothes and shoes. There's this phenomenon called the helpers high and it's been found that when you give to others

your brain's pleasure and reward centers light up as if you were the recipient of the good deed, not the giver. And it's hard to watch this video or listen to these people who've been benefited by such a small amount of money without feeling that high, which is something we the Stoics should live for," Assenica said. We Stoics, he said, take pleasure in bestowing benefits even though they cost us labor, provided that they lighten the labors of others. And Marcus really talked about not needing the third thing, not needing to be thanked for what happened, because doing it was rewarding enough for us.

So thanks to everyone who contributed to the gift directly fundraiser, Marcus really said that the fruit of this life were acts like that, the kindness we do for the common good, being unselfish caring for your fellow humans, embracing your good fortune only as a means to lighten the difficulties for those less fortunate. Marcus would be proud, thank you, and stay tuned for another fundraiser this year in the meantime you can go to give directly.org. It's funny, I talked to lots of people and a good chunk of those people haven't been readers for a long time, they've just gotten back into it. And I always love hearing that.

And they tell me how they fall in love with reading. They're reading more than ever. And I go, let me guess, you listen audio books, don't you? And it's true. And almost invariably, they listen to them on Audible. And that's because Audible offers an incredible selection of audio books across every genre from best sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs.

And of course, ancient philosophy, all my books are available on audio, read by me for the most part. Audible lets you enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app. You'll always find the best of what you love or something new to discover. And as an audible member, you get to choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog, including the latest best sellers and new releases. You'll discover thousands of titles from popular favorites,

exclusive new series and exciting new voices in audio. You can check out stillness is the key the daily dad I just recorded so that's up on audible now coming up on the 10 year anniversary of the obstacle is the way audiobook So all those are available and new members can try audible for free for 30 days visit audible dot com slash daily stoke or text daily stoke to 500 500 that's audible dot com slash daily stoke or text daily stoke to 500-500, that's audible.com slash Daily Stoke, or text Daily Stoke to 500-500. We are a product of our habits. This comes from this week's entry in the Daily Stoke Journal, 366 days of writing

and reflection on the art of living. Journaling, of course, is a critical exercise to the Stoics. It's really hard to separate journaling from Stoicism. Meditations is Marcus Aurelius journaling and talking to himself. And so today's entry comes from the prompt and the sort of meditative part of the Daily Stoic journal for this week. And it's all about habits. The Roman Stoics put a heavy emphasis on dealing with habitual behavior in order to make progress

in the art of living. The great Roman Stoke educator Musonius Rufus, his epictetus's teacher, held that all the theories in the world couldn't trump good habits, and they couldn't overcome bad habits either. Epictetus followed Musonius in this focus on habit with an eye on not reinforcing bad habits, such as anger, and finding a way to replace them with better ones. We all recognize bad habits when they see them in others, but it's harder to see them in ourselves.

So, this week, meditate on the habits and recurring behaviors that are holding you back and even ask others around you for their view. And the first quote comes to us from Epictetus. He says, every habit and capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking and running by running. Therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it. If you don't want to do that, don't, but make a habit of something else instead. The same principle is at work in our state of mind. When you get angry, you have not only experienced an evil, but you've also reinforced a bad habit, adding fuel to the fire. Tepic Titus' discourse is

218. Then he also says, if you don't wish to be a hothead, don't feed your habit. Try as a first step to remain calm and count the days you haven't been angry. I used to be angry every day, and now every other day, then every third and fourth, and if you make it as far as 30 days, thank God, for a habit is first weakened and then obliterated. When you can say, I didn't lose my temper today or the next day or for three or four months, but I kept my cool under provocation. Then you are in better health. That's again, epictetus is discourses 2, 18. And then this is the funny one.

He says, what assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the opposite. The point is, the Stoics thought a lot about habits. They had to, right? It's not just enough to think philosophical thoughts to sort of have high principles or standards, but how do you make them real in your life? How do you turn them into muscle memory? An athlete can watch videos, can be coached, can review painstakingly their swing or their

shot or their throw, and then they're going to get tweaks and thoughts. But then that has to become habit. That has to become part of the routine. their swing or their shot or their throw. And then they're going to get tweaks and thoughts, but then that has to become habit. That has to become part of the routine. That's why they sit in a gym and take, you know, a thousand free throws or a thousand jump shots. That's why they practice doing this or that. So that under immense amounts of pressure

under the stresses of life in the game, they can revert back to that training. They can do what they need to do. And I love this little expression from Senna about how bad habits, the old way of doing it, first we weaken it, then we obliterate it. You don't just magically do the new thing, you weaken it. And he's saying one way to weaken it is to try the opposite.

You know, it's like you have a piece of paper with a crease in it or a bend in it. You can fold it the opposite way and a piece of paper with a crease in it or a bend in it, you can fold it the opposite way and it kind of flattens it out. I just think that's an interesting way of thinking about it. But look, habits make the man, right? The habits that you do, the things you habitually do

day in and day out, this is what we're talking about earlier in the week, that's who you are. Who you say you are, who you want to be, who cares, right? Who the habits you habitually do, the choices you regularly make, that's what make you who you are, that's what make you beautiful. As we also talk about from Epic Titus, we are a product of our choices, our routines, our habits. As a writer, how does it work? You create a routine, you create a structure, you follow it every day, work comes out the other side of that. It's not about fits of inspiration, it's not about genius.

And I think this is true for all crafts that one seeks out to master. It's about habit. But I've also found that even as a parent, if you want to do good, if you want to manage this or that, you create habits, you create routines, you create structures. And then you stick to it. That's the key. So habits, we are a product of our habits.

The stokes believe that habits will make you happier. They will give you a better life. I'm not saying they're easy. They're very difficult, but habit is everything. And it's also the hardest thing, but let's keep working on our habits. 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. Raising kids can be one of the greatest rewards of a parent's life.

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