The Daily Stoic - Which Of These Are You? | What's In Your Way Is The Way

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Which of these are you? He had every reason to feel threat. He had every reason to think of his own interests first. He had every reason not to care so much about this kid that he'd been stuck with. But we know that Antoninus didn't see Marcus Aurelius that way. Instead, he took the role that Hadrian had given him.

Starting point is 00:00:32 which was to prepare the next generation of leadership. And he took it seriously. He mentored Marcus. He taught Marcus. He loved Marcus as if he was his son. Again, he could have intrigued against him. He could have undermined him. He could have tried to replace him with someone he was related to.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Instead, Antoninus was generous and patient and selfless. And he helped Marcus succeed. What about you? Are you going to be that kind of leader? Or are you going to give in to insecurity and selfishness and close-mindedness? We all face some version of this choice. Are we going to be an enemy or an encourager? Will we help or hinder?

Starting point is 00:01:07 Will we support or stab in the back? Will we open doors or close them? And in the end, our legacy will be defined by this choice, as will our character. True leaders create other leaders. Great people bring out greatness in others. They take their responsibility seriously and selflessly. I was asking some people at the staff meeting for Daily Stoke the other day, if anyone uses What Not.

Starting point is 00:01:37 And apparently I'm way out of the loop because not only did a bunch of them use it, they raved about it. And look, when you check out the app, you sort of get it. It's really exciting, honestly. They're seeing all these sales happen in real time, and you see the face of the person who's selling it, which is, of course, not really what online shopping typically is. If you don't know what What Not is,

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Starting point is 00:02:27 You just go to What Not in the App Store. that's W-H-A-T-N-O-T, W-H-A-T-N-O-T, whatnot in the app store, download it, and you can start selling right away. Hey, it's Ryan. I'm on the road right now doing talks all over the country. I love traveling. I love going to new places. The thing I don't like about it, though, is I don't get to sleep in my bed at home, which I like, not just because it's home, but because I have an eight-sleep on my bed. I've had an eight-sleep on my bed, I don't know, five years. I love it, my wife loves it. We love it because it cools the mattress. It heats the mattress.

Starting point is 00:03:00 You can have different sides cool at different temperatures. It's even how I wake up in the morning. Instead of an annoying alarm clock or that, you know, horrible sound on your phone, it lightly buzzes you awake. And then when you're up, you want to turn it off, you just tap the mattress. There's all sorts of awesome features in my eight sleep. It was worth every penny. The point is, I love my eight sleep.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And the eight sleep keeps getting better. Eight sleep users report up to 32% better sleep and up to 34% better sleep. and up to 34% better deep sleep. This is all stuff you love. You can use the code Daily Stoic at 8Sleep.com slash daily stoic right now for up to $500 off. And this 4th of July sale ends on July 12, so don't wait. And if you have an HSA or an FSA,

Starting point is 00:03:45 some 8Sleep stuff qualifies for that as well. Through TrueMed and qualified customers save about 30% on average. Check your eligibility at trumed.com slash 8Sleep.6. sleep before you buy. TrueMed is for qualified customers. HSA and FSA tax savings may vary. What's in your way is the way. Obstacles are a fact of life. Even the most powerful and lucky of us are not exempt from this reality, but we have a superpower at our hands through Stoic philosophy in that our purposes, our intentions, our attitudes can adapt to any conditions to find a way forward. The Stoics talk about acting with a reserve clause that allows us to reconsider and set a new course of action if needed.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And Marcus Aurelius tells us that any obstacle can actually become raw material for a new purpose. So that's what you should think about today in this week. How might the obstacles you're facing reveal a new path? And this is from the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 days of writing and reflection on the Art of Living. every week we have a sort of a daily meditation. We've got three quotes from Marcus Aurelius along these lines today. While it's true that someone can impede our actions, they can't impede our intentions or our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its actions into a means of achieving it.

Starting point is 00:05:18 And that which is the obstacle to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way. That's Meditations 520. Marcus also says in 835, just as nature turns to its own purpose, any obstacle or any opposition sets its place in the destined order and co-ops it, so every rational person can convert any obstacle into the raw material for their own purpose. And then Meditations 832, so clearly he thinks about this a lot. He says, you must build up your life action by action and be content if you. each one achieves its goal as far as possible. And no one can keep you from this.

Starting point is 00:05:59 But there will be some external obstacle. Perhaps, he says, but no obstacle to acting with justice, self-control and wisdom. But what if some area of my action is thwarted? Will 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.

Starting point is 00:06:21 As you know, this is what I built the obstacle as the way around these ideas. But let me read you Gregory Hayes' translation in that same line, 520, because it's obviously been so instrumental to me. And I think Hayes does it quite well also. He says, and it's interesting, he's clearly referring Marcus not to a specific kind of obstacle, difficult people. In a sense, people are our proper occupation. This is Meditations 520. Our job is to do them good and put up with them.

Starting point is 00:06:50 But when they obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant. to us, like the sun, wind, or animals. Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes, the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. Let's look at the Robin Waterfield translation of the same line. All right, here's 5.20. From one point of view, nothing is more proper to me than a human being. Insofar as it's my job to do people good and tolerate them. But insofar as some people threaten my proper work, I count a human being as just another indifferent, no less than the

Starting point is 00:07:38 sun or the wind or a wild animal. These things may impede some of my activities, but they can't impede my impulses or my state of mind, because I have powers of reservation and adaptation. The mind can adapt and alter every impediment to action to serve its purpose. Something that might have hindered a task contributes to it instead. And something that was an obstacle on the road helps you on your way. And then here's Waterfield's note. He says, again, Marcus stresses the independence of the mind and the possibility of seeing the world in a positive light. So it doesn't matter which translation you read, the message is the same. Stuff happens. Stuff gets in our way. But it presents us the opportunity to do something different.

Starting point is 00:08:22 So in this sense, the obstacle is the way it's not that, you know, life erects this wall in front of you in the ways through that wall. It's that when the door shuts, a window opens, it's that when you wanted everything to go well and then someone screws it up, now it's a chance to practice patience. Now it's a chance to practice forgiveness. Now it's a chance to start over.

Starting point is 00:08:46 Now it's a chance to, you know, extra. yourself from this toxic relationship, whatever it is, right? What Marcus is saying is that everything that happens in life, every obstacle, as maddening and frustrating and as painful as they might be, they are opportunities to practice a different virtue, that virtue is always the way and that nothing stops us from being able to do that. I just love that passage so much if I had the time I'd grab the Pierre Hadoe chapter on this very idea, which also helps inspire the obstacles the way he talks about sort of the art of turning obstacles upside down. To me, this is a central practice in stoicism. It's why I've got a tattooed on my arm. It's why I wrote a book about it. It's

Starting point is 00:09:27 why we talk about it so much. It's idea of amorphati we accept and then we use what's happened to our advantage. That's the essence of stoicism. I hope that inspires you a little bit today. People are our proper occupation. We tolerate them. We put up with them. And all the obstacles they roll into our away, all the problems they cause us, are actually not problems, but opportunities to practice the very virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. That's what we're doing here. Talk soon.

The Daily Stoic - Which Of These Are You? | What's In Your Way Is The Way

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