The Daily Stoic - This Is the Greatest Thing | Practice Silence

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

Ryan discusses the vitality of stillness and reflection that philosophy demands of us, and reads this week’s meditation from The Daily Stoic Journal, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Novo is the #1 Business Banking App - because it’s built from the ground up to be powerfully simple and free business banking that Money Magazine called the Best Business Checking Account of 2021. Novo makes banking easy and secure - you can manage your account in Novo’s customizable web, android, and iOS apps with built in profit first accounting and invoicing. Get your FREE business banking account in just 10 minutes at https://banknovo.com/STOICSign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and 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 Stoic podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics 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 happen to be doing. So let's get into it. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wonderree's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target, the new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward.

Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the greatest thing. It was at the height of his accomplishments as chancellor of the German Empire that Otto von Bismarck asked his great commanding general what could possibly be left for them to do. After such events, Bismarck said, is there anything left worth experiencing? His general's response, yes, your excellency, watching a tree grow. As driven as we are, as much as we've done, we must remember that the simple things are often far grander in their glory than any honor we may receive or any victory we may secure.

One can't help but sense this idea in both the writings of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. For his philosophical explorations and his musing on power, it's Sicus descriptions of children building sandcastles and his observations of townspeople comically rushing to get their mail that stands out. For all of Marcus's insights about the human condition, it's his reflection on the way bread breaks open in the oven or the way a lion furrows its brow that hits us the hardest. He talked about the beauty of nature's inadvertence and that's what the general was referring to. Sure, it's an astounding achievement to unify a country. It's wonderful to actually do everything you've ever wanted, but there is also the simple pleasure of tracking the progress of a tree you planted with your own two hands in your

front garden. There's something humbling about the way the forest was here before you and will be here after you. There's something haunting about about the way the forest was here before you and will be here after you. There's something haunting about the way a river carries away everything put into it never to be seen again. This haunting, humbling simplicity is stillness and it is the greatest thing. Taking the time to observe it, learn from it, to be centered by it, it cannot be underestimated. And we need it now more than ever. It's happiness and serenity embodied and it's yours anytime you like it. That stillness, that almost zen stillness that appears in the stillness I was talking about in

stillness is the key. It was a transformational book for me to write and to study this. I'm busy, I'm ambitious, I'm always doing, I love being out in the world, but this idea of slowing down, of really seeing, of getting in touch with oneself, of doing the reflective, probing work, that philosophy demands of us. This is really important too. That's why I take my walks in the morning. That's why we take a walk as a family in the afternoon. It's why I spend time reading. It's why I seek out solitude. It's why I seek out quiet. And so stillness really is the key to wisdom, to insight, to happiness. And so I hope you're seeking it. If you want some insights on it, you can check out my book Stillness is the Key, which debuted

at number one on the New York Times list. It's available anywhere. Books are sold. Check it out. Stillness is the key, and I hope you find some stillness today. Practice silence. Social media teaches us to have an opinion about everything. Silence beckons us to speak. We live in a loud culture, and we try to keep up by being louder in return.

And how much trouble does this cause us? How much might we learn if we spent more time listening to others than trying to sandwich our opinions in at every turn? How much of what we say do we come to regret? So really, the truly loud thing to say is nothing. So spend some time writing your thoughts down this weekend. See how many of them you can keep yourself. Be bold in your silence. And how much you hold your tongue this week. And this is from this week's entry in the Daily Steal of Journal 366 days of writing

and reflection on the art of living by yours truly and my co-writer and translator, Steven Hanselman. I actually do this journal every single day. There's a question in the morning, a question in the afternoon, and then there's these sort of weekly meditations. As Epictetus says, every day and night we keep thoughts like this at hand, write them, read them aloud, and talk to yourself and others about them. You can check out the Daily

Stoke Journal, anywhere books are sold, you can also get a signed personalized copy from me in the Daily Stoke store, it's store.dailystoke.com. You know, here we are, the week after the launch of courage is calling. I hope you've checked it out. If you can't, we're extending the pre-order bonuses through the launch so you can do that at dailystoke.com slash pre-order. It would mean so much to me if you'd support the book. It's off to a great start. But one of the hardest parts about putting out a book is all the interviews I have to do. I feel like I talk more than I've ever talked in my life. And it's such a violation of how I try to comport myself, how I want to live, what's healthy to live.

You, people should not be asking for your opinion as much as they have been asking me in the last couple of weeks. People should not be as interested in me as they've been in the last couple of weeks. I shouldn't be seeking out attention or platforms the way that I have been in the last couple of weeks. I shouldn't be seeking out attention or platforms the way that I have been in the last couple of weeks. It's like a deliberately unhealthy period.

It's almost like gaining weight for an acting role or something. It's just part of the job. I have to do it. It's like pulling all nighters for some project where there's no alternative. It's not good for you. You shouldn't be doing it.

And then your diet suffers and all this other stuff. But that's just part of the job. And I have to come to understand that. But I also work really hard not to let it go to my head, because I don't want to be a babbling, self-absorbed, self-obsessed person who thinks that people should care as much as they've cared the last couple of weeks, that's just the reality of putting out a book. It's been weird. It's been weird.

And like I said, one of the benefits of philosophy is that it centers you, you come back to it. And so I'll give you four quotes today too from Xeno actually that should help you and certainly helping me to think about Xeno says, better to trip with the feet than with the tongue. It's inevitable, right? An actor goes on a press tour and they say something dumb because they're just forced to talk. They're forced to answer all these questions, but you get in trouble the more you talk. That's just something I found. As Robert Green says, always say less than necessary. Another quote from Xeno, to the to a youngster talking nonsense, Xeno said, the reason why we have two ears and only one mouth, so we might listen more and talk less.

It's beautiful. I love that. And then Plato talking about Kato the Younger says, Kato practiced the kind of public speech capable of moving the masses, believing proper political philosophy takes care like any great city to maintain the war like element. But he was never seen practicing in front of others and no one ever heard him rehearse the speech. When he was told that people blamed him for his silence, he replied, better they not blame my life. I begin to speak only when I'm certain

that what I'll say isn't best left unsaid. Beautiful. That's something I do try to carry forward when I do talks and stuff. People go, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? And I try to, on a pretty regular basis, maybe even one, to per taco, I don't know.

I don't know about that. Because you don't wanna get the habit of forcing an answer about things when you don't know. If you don't know, it takes courage to be like, I don't know, or I don't care. I have not studied that. I don't have enough information to be okay being thought dumb or foolish, as Epictetus says.

Silence does that. It takes practicing silence is a discipline, it takes discipline, it is not easy, and you will sometimes look silly and you will sometimes hurt people's feelings, but I think you'll hurt people's feelings less by not talking than you will by talking. And that gets us to the final quote, this is from Seneca's play The Estes. He says, Silence is a lesson learned from the many sufferings of life. Another great quote I love from Seneca.

He said, Another great quote I love from Seneca. He says, When I think of all the things I said, I envy the mute. Meaning, he wishes he couldn't talk because he said so much dumb stuff

that when he thinks back on it, he's almost overwhelmed with shame or awkwardness. When the hard parts about being right or having a social media presence is you know what's out there and you cringe, you think about it. There's always a tweet. There's always a dumb article. There's always a time you jumped out to take a hot take. You should have just left it there because he didn't know. He didn't know enough. He didn't put the work in. He didn't actually care. You forced it. the work in. You didn't actually care. You forced it. You let your ego get a hold of you. And that never makes good work.

So let's practice a little silence this week. If you have something to say, write it down in your journal. Don't say it on social media. Always say less than necessary. Try to say less than necessary. That's the stoke way. And if you could, please support courage is calling fortune favors. The bold, you can pick up a copy anywhere, books are sold, get a bunch of bonuses. If you do

it at dailystoic.com slash pre order. Thanks. I'll talk to you soon. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic 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. Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day and partying at night with your best friends, and having to be 100% paid for. FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded, with other

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