Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The What Is Stoicism? Podcast

This episode explores the balance between solitude, good company, and independent judgment.

Hume and Seneca both saw value in stepping away to think clearly, then returning to relationships that strengthen character and enrich life.

The danger is not society itself, but surrendering our judgment to the crowd and mistaking popularity for wisdom.

If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Do You Value Both Solitude and Company?

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-do-you-value

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This episode explores how remembering mortality can sharpen both attention and freedom.

Oliver Burkeman and Alan Watts show why the present matters precisely because it cannot be repeated, while John O’Donohue and Epictetus use the same awareness to put fear, status, and authority into perspective.

Life’s brevity asks us to be more present with the people we love and less willing to surrender our inner freedom to temporary pressures. Remembering death, in this sense, is not about withdrawing from life, but entering it more fully.

If you’d like to practice these principles, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Focus on the Joy, Not the Poignancy

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-focus-on

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This episode explores the ancient instruction to “know thyself” as the foundation of a philosophical life. Julian, Pigliucci, and Epictetus show that self-knowledge helps us decide what kind of person we want to be—and what must be protected when circumstances become difficult. And Socrates offers the clearest example: his preparation for adversity was simply a lifetime spent safeguarding what was truly up to him.

If you’d like to continue the practice, this Micro Morning Meditation will be helpful:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: This is The Main Point of Philosophy

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-this-is-6fe

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This episode examines the habit of complaining and the power we retain over our response.

Seneca and Epictetus remind us that while frustrations are unavoidable, resentment often adds a second layer of suffering that is largely our own.

A simple practice—pause, assess, and reframe—helps turn irritation into clearer judgment and, where possible, constructive action.

If you’d like to continue the practice, you might also find this Micro Morning Meditation helpful:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: How to Stop Complaining

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-how-to-stop

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This episode examines wealth, desire, and the freedom that comes from needing less.

Seneca warns that fortune’s gifts often become traps, because external success can deepen dependence rather than satisfy the soul.

Anthony de Mello sharpens the same insight: many of our chains are imaginary, formed by false ideas about what we need before we can truly live.

If you’d like to continue the practice, you might also find this Micro Morning Meditation helpful:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: You're Free Already

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-youre-free

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This episode reflects on what happens when life interrupts our carefully arranged plans.

The Stoic reserve clause—“if nothing prevents me”—helps us plan without pretending the future belongs to us.

Shakespeare, Seneca, and Suzuki Shōsan deepen the point by bringing death into view, not as a morbid fixation, but as a reminder that even ordinary days are not guaranteed.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Others Judge You

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-others

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This episode uses Seneca’s image of the road to ask whether we are moving with purpose or merely following the crowd.

A clear destination helps us resist distraction, while Epictetus shows where our attention truly belongs: on our judgments, choices, desires, and actions.

The Stoic task is to be cautious with what depends on us and confident toward what does not

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Stories of Insecurity

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-stories

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This episode uses animals as a reminder to return to the present moment.

Hadot and Marcus Aurelius show that life is lived only in the now, where we can think clearly, act justly, and avoid adding needless disturbance to events.

Animals offer a simple model of presence: they don't argue with the past or rehearse the future, but inhabit what's directly before them.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Stories of Insecurity

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-stories

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This episode explores conversation and kindness as forms of care for the soul.

Socrates saw dialogue as essential to self-knowledge, a way of bringing hidden thoughts into the open and examining them honestly.

Phil Hammond’s story of kindness as “the most powerful drug” adds a practical modern echo: when we don’t know what to do, kindness nearly always improves the situation.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Stories of Insecurity

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-stories

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This episode reflects on the shortness of life without turning it into panic.

Oliver Burkeman’s “four thousand weeks” gives us a blunt measure of our limits, while Seneca’s story of Julius Canus shows how calm can survive even under the shadow of death.

The Stoic point isn't to master time or escape mortality, but to stop wasting what remains on denial, anxiety, or impossible self-optimization.

Since we can't know how many weeks are left, the task is to inhabit the present with attention, courage, and dignity.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Allow Yourself To Live

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-allow-yourself

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This episode explains Epictetus’s three disciplines as a practical way of returning to the present moment.

The Discipline of Assent helps us judge clearly, the Discipline of Desire teaches us to want only what is within our power, and the Discipline of Action directs us toward justice and the common good.

Hadot’s account of the reserve clause adds an important final step: act with firm intention, but accept that outcomes are not fully yours to command.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Allow Yourself To Live

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-allow-yourself

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This episode uses the thought of a “last day” to test the distance between our values and our actions.

Montaigne, Seneca, and Lucretius show how reflecting on death can sharpen our sense of what matters now, not later. Simone Weil then offers a modern example of philosophy lived with unusual seriousness and conviction.

The question is simple but demanding: are we merely admiring good ideas, or are we becoming the kind of person who lives them?

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Emotion Clouds Judgment

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-emotion

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This episode looks at how the chase for novelty and the habit of overextension both unsettle the mind.

Cicero reminds us that possessions and technologies are not good in themselves—their value depends on how we use them.

Seneca adds that taking on too much leaves us primed for frustration and anger.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Emotion Clouds Judgment

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-emotion

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This episode treats life’s difficulties as assignments rather than interruptions.

Epictetus reminds us that we don’t get to choose every task Fortune sets, but we do choose how well we meet it.

Each challenge becomes a chance to practice courage, patience, justice, or self-control—and, when handled well, to encourage others by example.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Emotion Clouds Judgment

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-emotion

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This episode explores the Stoic partnership between foresight and acceptance.

Preparing for setbacks doesn’t mean expecting misery—it means building the resilience to meet difficulty without being overwhelmed.

With Philo’s calm readiness, Rumi’s guest house, and Marcus Aurelius’s reminder that obstacles can become part of the path, we can meet whatever arrives with confidence and imagination.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Let Us Cherish Old Age

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-let-us-cherish

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This episode explores gratitude as a Stoic practice, emphasizing the transformative power of attention.

By imagining what we might have already lost—or even our own death—we can reawaken appreciation for ordinary moments: a conversation, a child’s question, a walk with a pet.

Marcus Aurelius calls this the “bonus” life, a reminder that presence and awareness turn the everyday into something precious.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Let Us Cherish Old Age

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This episode returns philosophy to its ancient meaning: not something merely studied, but something lived.

Pierre Hadot shows that figures like Marcus Aurelius practiced philosophy through daily self-examination rather than abstract theory.

With four simple Stoic reminders—unity, moral good, human kinship, and the present moment—we offer a practical foundation for living like a philosopher.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Let Us Cherish Old Age

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This episode examines the attention we surrender to screens, busyness, and distraction.

Eric Pickersgill’s phone-free photographs reveal how strange our habits can look when the device disappears, while Seneca warns that constant bustle is often just a restless mind in motion.

The question isn't whether modern life demands our attention, but whether we're choosing where it goes.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Let Us Cherish Old Age

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This episode reflects on the quiet evidence of resilience we carry with us: the fact that we have survived every difficult moment that once seemed unbearable.

Seneca’s image of the scar reminds us that old wounds are not just records of pain, but proof of endurance.

Epictetus adds to the lesson by showing that external events only truly threaten us when our judgments give them power.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Let Us Cherish Old Age

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This episode explores Stoicism as a love of wisdom and a daily practice of character.

By understanding virtue as human excellence—thinking clearly, acting justly, facing difficulty bravely, and resisting excess—the philosophy becomes immediately useful and practical rather than theoretical and abstract.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Object is Bound to Perish

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-object

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This episode turns Seneca’s call to “hold every hour in our grasp” into something more concrete.

Through Montaigne’s habits of writing and walking, and Matt Haig’s reflections on acceptance, we look at how attention can slow the feeling of life rushing past.

The point isn't to seize time by force, but to notice what's here, accept what can't be changed, and live the hour instead of losing it.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Object is Bound to Perish

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This episode examines anger through the lens of Seneca and Epictetus.

Seneca warns that anger harms us first, clouding reason and undermining self-control, while Epictetus reframes wrongdoing as error rather than malice.

Together, they suggest a practical response: pause, question the impression, and consider the cost of reacting.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Go to Their Souls

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-go-to-their

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This episode explores how much of our distress comes not from events themselves, but from the interpretations we layer on top of them.

Marcus Aurelius reminds us that opinions are optional, while Epictetus shows how easily appearances can mislead us.

By sticking closer to the facts and examining our impressions carefully, we reduce unnecessary mental noise.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Go to Their Souls

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This episode explores Cicero’s three-part guide to living well: let reason govern impulse, see things as they truly are, and practice moderation.

These principles form a practical framework for navigating daily decisions without being carried away by instinct or excess.

With Epictetus reinforcing the need to understand before we act, the focus is on building a well-ordered mind step by step.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Something Stands in the Way

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-something

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This episode is a gentle return to practice for anyone who’s drifted or struggled to begin.

Seneca and the Stoics remind us that growth starts with effort, but becomes easier—and even rewarding—once it takes hold.

The aim isn’t perfection, but steady progress: correcting judgments, strengthening character, and moving a little closer each day.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When Something Stands in the Way

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This episode reflects on the Stoic call to care for your own soul.

Marcus Aurelius warns that misery comes not from ignoring others, but from neglecting the activity of our own mind.

Seneca adds that a well-formed soul—guided by reason, courage, and discipline—becomes independent of fortune, because its true wealth lies within.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Stoic View on Interior Design

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-stoic-b16

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This episode looks at how Stoicism handles insults without turning us into “unfeeling statues.”

Epictetus suggests taking a cue from a stone: insults only work if we grant them importance.

When we pause and refuse that inner assent, the words lose their grip.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: To Live Without Error is Impossible

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-to-live-126

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This episode explores how Stoicism moves from theory to instinct.

The ancients distilled complex teachings into sharp, portable aphorisms—short phrases designed to steady the mind under pressure.

From Delphic maxims to Cicero’s call to let reason govern impulse, these lines function as mental anchors when stress rises.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: To Live Without Error is Impossible

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-to-live-126

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This episode reflects on the power of everyday kindness—the remembered question, the use of someone’s name, the simple act of inclusion that makes a person feel seen.

It explores traditions like Turkey’s askıda ekmek and Italy’s caffè sospeso, where generous acts are done without recognition or reward.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: To Live Without Error is Impossible

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-to-live-126

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This episode centres on a question from Epictetus: what is there to fear?

By focusing only on what’s truly within our control—our choices and character—we loosen the grip of anxiety.

With fear quieted, attention returns to the present, where even ordinary moments become material for reflection and growth.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Curl Up And Be Warm In The Present

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-curl-up

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This episode follows Epictetus’s vivid portrait of Diogenes the Cynic—a philosopher who lived as a “spy” on false values, exposing how little we truly need to live freely.

From Diogenes’ fearless simplicity to Seneca and Gracián’s insistence on self-respect even in solitude, we explore what it means to answer to yourself rather than to status, comfort, or applause.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: We Should Be Stretching Ourselves

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This episode tackles one of life’s most enduring questions: why do misfortunes so often strike those who seem least deserving of them?

Drawing on Seneca’s On Providence and the poetry of Octavio Paz, we look at suffering not as injustice but as a form of moral training and self-discovery.

Hardship, in this view, isn't a detour from the good life but the very terrain on which character is formed.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: It Does No Good To Rage At Circumstance

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This episode explores how expectation quietly robs us of the only time we ever truly have: today.

Through a wry story from John O’Donohue and Seneca’s sharp warning about waiting on tomorrow, we see how imagined futures colonize the present and dull our awareness of what’s already here.

Drawing unexpected parallels with Ecclesiastes and Marcus Aurelius, the episode clears away what ultimately doesn’t matter. What remains is an invitation to let go of borrowed worries and actually live the day that’s unfolding.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: We Can Rise To Greater Heights

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This episode is a quiet pause at the start of the day—a meditation on mornings as gifts rather than obligations.

Drawing on Stoic gratitude and four short poems by Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Rumi, and Frank O’Hara, it invites us to meet the day with attentiveness instead of haste.

Each poem becomes a way of honoring the simple fact of waking up, before goals, worries, or noise rush in. It’s an offering of stillness, meant to be lingered with and returned to, one morning at a time.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: We Can Rise To Greater Heights

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This episode examines a quietly radical insight: that much of our suffering comes not from pain itself, but from our attempt to escape it.

Drawing a line between Alan Watts’ observation and Stoic acceptance, we explore how resistance to reality keeps distress alive long after the moment has passed.

Epictetus helps sharpen the lesson by showing how misplacing “the good” in things we can’t control guarantees frustration and conflict.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: We Can Rise To Greater Heights

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This episode reframes Stoicism not as a quest for unreachable perfection, but as a practice of steady progress.

Drawing on the ancient idea of the prokoptōn—the one who makes progress—we explore why even Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius saw themselves as students rather than sages.

Stoic philosophy, we discover, is less about arriving and more about returning: again and again, to reflection, correction, and effort. To live as a Stoic is simply to desire progress, and to keep good company along the way.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Don’t Always Be Beginning To Live

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This episode reflects on how awareness of mortality sharpens our sense of what truly matters, through the unforgettable lesson Randy Pausch taught with a spilled soda and Marcus Aurelius’s reminder that every day arrives with a due date.

When time is no longer assumed to be endless, possessions lose their grip and postponed priorities come into focus. Far from being morbid, this clarity is freeing—it helps us release what doesn’t matter and act on what does.

The question left hanging is simple and urgent: how will you use today’s opportunity before it quietly expires?

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Don’t Always Be Beginning To Live

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This episode explores the Stoic art of decatastrophizing—learning to meet fear by stripping events down to what they really are, rather than what our imagination makes of them.

From Socrates calmly facing death to Seneca’s reminder that we suffer more in imagination than in reality, we see how clarity dissolves panic.

The practice isn’t denial or blind optimism, but disciplined attention to the present moment. With repetition, the Stoics show, fear loses its grip and the mind regains its power.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Art of Self-Retrieval

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This episode explores an often-overlooked Stoic lesson: that even wisdom, effort, and reflection must be practiced in moderation.

Through David Hume’s gentle warning against burnout—and his nuanced engagement with Stoic exercises—we see how pushing too hard, whether in work or in contemplating life’s fragility, can undermine the very growth we seek.

Seneca’s counsel to rest the mind and Hume’s reminder that “going slower” can get us there sooner converge on a timeless truth. Flourishing isn’t found in relentless strain or constant gloom, but in the measured balance that preserves both health and gratitude.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Art of Self-Retrieval

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This episode dives into the Stoic idea of the “passions”—those powerful storms of anger, fear, envy, and grief that arise not from events themselves but from the judgments we attach to them.

Epictetus teaches that emotional turmoil begins in the domain of desire, where unexamined impressions harden into false beliefs about what is good or bad.

By learning to pause, test our impressions, and assent only to what is true, we reclaim mastery over our inner world.

The work is gradual but transformative: each moment of careful attention becomes a step toward clarity, resilience, and the deep calm that comes from governing one’s own mind.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Art of Self-Retrieval

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This episode explores listening as a form of courage and clarity—an active practice that shapes how we understand the world and ourselves.

From Zeno’s simple reminder that we have “two ears and one mouth” to Epictetus’s deeper lesson on assent, we learn that true listening isn’t passive reception but deliberate attention. It invites empathy, reveals uncomfortable truths, and creates the space in which wisdom can emerge.

When we listen with patience and discernment—to others, to nature, to our own inner signals—we reclaim our freedom to choose our responses and, in doing so, walk a wiser path through life.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Virtue Doesn't Need To Signal

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-virtue-doesnt-f2d

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This episode brings haiku and Stoicism into conversation, showing how both traditions teach us to savor fleeting moments while also meeting life with energy and purpose. Bashō’s delicate images remind us to slow down and truly see the world, while Seneca urges us to “hold every hour in your grasp.”

And in a surprising twist, modern research reveals that Stoic practice doesn’t dull the spirit—it ignites zest, the vigor that makes life feel vivid again.

Together, haiku’s quiet attention and Stoicism’s joyful readiness form a blueprint for living fully in every passing instant.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Run Back Over Your Actions

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-run-back

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This episode turns the Stoic lens toward the illusions of power and wealth, as Epictetus and Cicero expose the tyranny of desire and the poverty of excess.

Through the figure of the boastful ruler and the self-satisfied rich man, both philosophers reveal how dependence on externals—on fortune, status, or approval—enslaves the soul.

True mastery, they argue, lies not in ruling others but in ruling oneself. The person content with virtue alone, free from craving and fear, is richer and stronger than any tyrant alive.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: The Meaning of Life

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-the-meaning

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In this episode, I talk to Shermin Kruse, a globally recognized negotiation consultant, law professor, author, and TEDx producer.

In her latest book, Stoic Empathy, Shermin blends neuroscience, philosophy, and her own personal journey to provide actionable insights into cultivating influence, self-leadership, and emotional regulation.

It was a pleasure to speak to Shermin, I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

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Check out one of my latest daily Micro Morning Meditations here on Substack:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Virtue Doesn't Need To Signal

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-virtue-doesnt-f2d

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This episode weaves together the wisdom of Michel de Montaigne and Seneca—two thinkers separated by centuries yet united in their answer to life’s oldest question: how should we live?

For Montaigne, the key was freedom from the fear of death. For Seneca, freedom from the waste of life. One teaches acceptance, the other intention.

Together, they remind us that peace comes not from prolonging our days, but from inhabiting them fully—to stop dreading the end and start honoring the present as life’s most sacred gift.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: This Is True Temperance

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-this-is-2fa

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In this episode, we look at the beauty of balance through Seneca’s counsel on plain living and Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata.

Seneca reminds us that philosophy calls for simplicity, not self-punishment—a life both modest and graceful, grounded yet open to the world.

Echoing this, Ehrmann’s gentle verses urge calm, kindness, and humility amid life’s noise and haste.

Together, these voices teach that wisdom is not withdrawal but harmony: to live earnestly, serve humbly, and never lose sight of the quiet joy found in life’s simplest things.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: Remain Human in an Inhuman Time

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-remain-human

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This episode explores Epictetus’s radical vision of strength—one rooted not in anger or domination, but in mastery of the self. Through his reflections on thieves, insults, and injustice, the former slave turned philosopher shows that true invincibility lies in compassion, clarity, and control over our own judgments.

When we cease giving power to what others do and focus instead on how we respond, we become untouchable in the deepest sense. The Stoic’s triumph is not over enemies or circumstance, but over the impulse to surrender peace of mind to anything beyond our will.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: When To Stop Listening

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-when-to

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This episode traces the Stoic lineage back to Socrates, whose probing questions revealed that health, wealth, and reputation are not inherently good or bad—their value lies in how we use them.

From Xenophon’s dialogues to Cicero’s reflections, we see how wisdom became the touchstone for discerning what truly matters. Fortune’s gifts and losses come and go, but virtue remains unshakeable.

The Stoic message endures: our real possessions are inward ones, the moral resources that no change of fate can ever take away.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: A Prayer to Nature

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-a-prayer

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This episode shines a light on Temperance—the often-overlooked Stoic virtue that quietly anchors all the rest.

Far from being dull restraint, Temperance is freedom: the ability to enjoy life without being ruled by appetite or impulse. It’s the steady discipline that transforms courage into integrity, justice into fairness, and wisdom into clarity.

In a culture that celebrates excess, this virtue reminds us that moderation is not denial but mastery—the calm art of keeping life in balance so that joy, reason, and harmony can flourish together.

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☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: A Reliable Companion

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-a-reliable

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This episode turns to two of the Stoics’ deepest insights: that everything outside us is in constant motion, and that within us lies a freedom nothing can touch.

Using Zeno’s vision of happiness as “a good flow of life,” we explore how change and death are not disruptions but essential parts of the rhythm that makes life meaningful.

Epictetus then reminds us that while we can’t control the tune, we are always free to choose how we respond to it. Together, these lessons reveal a path to resilience—accepting impermanence without fear, while safeguarding the will that makes us truly free.

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Check out one of my latest daily Micro Morning Meditations here on Substack:

☀️ Micro Morning Meditation: A Motto For The Courageous

https://whatisstoicism.substack.com/p/micro-morning-meditation-a-motto

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