You Are Dying Every Day | The Wake Up

“It’s easy to see death as this thing that lies off in the distant future. Even those of us who choose not to live in denial of our mortality can be guilty of this. We think of dying as an event that happens to us. It’s stationary—whatever date it will happen at—and we’re moving towards it, slowly or quickly, depending on our age and health.”Ryan reminds us of the power that can be found in remembering our mortality, and reads this week’s meditation from The Daily Stoic Journal, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. This episode is brought to you by Manly Bands, the best wedding rings you can get. Freedom for your hand to look like you want it to look. Whether you’re looking for men’s wedding rings or engagement rings, Manly Bands has you covered. Manly Bands has an insane selection of materials: gold, wood, antler, steel, dinosaur bones, meteorite, even wood from whiskey barrels. To order your Manly Band and get 20% off, plus a free silicone ring, go to manlybands.com/stoic and enter promo code STOIC.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Ryan Holiday?

  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. You are dying every day. It's easy to see death as this thing that lies off in the distant future. Even those of us who choose not to live in denial of our mortality can be guilty of this.

• 0:48Ryan Holiday?

  We think of dying as an event that happens to us. It's stationary, whatever date it will happen at, and that we're moving towards it slowly or quickly, depending on our age or health. Seneca felt that this was the wrong way to think about it, that it was a mistaken view that enabled many bad habits and much bad living. Instead, he said, "Death was a process. It was happening to us right now. We are dying every day," he said. "Even as you listen to this podcast, time is passing that you will never get back. That time," he said, "belongs to death." Powerful, right? Death doesn't lie off in the distance. It is with us right now.

• 1:33Ryan Holiday?

  It is the second hand on the clock. It is the setting sun. As the arrow of time moves, death follows, claiming every moment that has passed. What ought we do about it? The answer is live. Live while you can. Put nothing off. Leave nothing unfinished. Seize it while it still belongs to us. Memento mori.

• 2:00Ryan Holiday?

  The Wake Up. Each morning, when you sit with a journal and think about Stoicism, you are following in the footsteps of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and all the other great Stoics. The Stoics did not face each day on a whim, but instead with preparation and discipline. They spent real time thinking and anticipating what was to come over the course of a day, of a week, of a year. Each morning activity, including journaling, including listening to this podcast, anything you do in the morning for the Stoic is designed to make you ready to face the day, and you can be ready for the day as well. Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning. What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion? What for tranquility?

• 2:44Ryan Holiday?

  What am I, a mere body, a stateholder, a reputation? None of these things. What then? A rational being. What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions. How did I steer away from serenity? What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial, and uncaring? What did I fail to do in all these things? That's from Epictetus's Discourses 4.6. On those mornings when you struggle with getting up, keep this thought in mind: I am awakening to the work of a human being. Why then am I annoyed that I was going to do what I am made for, for the very things for which I was put into this world? Was I made for this, to snuggle under the covers and keep warm? So pleasurable. What then were you made for?

• 3:26Ryan Holiday?

  Pleasure, sure, to be coddled, or to exert yourself? That's from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations 5.1. I think maybe my, maybe the first passage it really hit me in Meditations. Anyway, this idea of owning the morning, starting the day off right, is really so important. There's that expression, what is, what is well begun is half done. And I think... You know, I don't know when you're listening to this, obviously. I hope it's in the morning. Maybe it's on your commute. Maybe it's as you brushing your teeth or got it on a Sonos player or something. You're walking around your house. The point is, how you start the day is really important. For me, as I've said before, that my number one rule in the morning is I don't check my phone. I don't sleep with my phone in the room.

• 4:09Ryan Holiday?

  I sleep with it in the kitchen, plugged in. So, you know, when I go to bed like 10, 11, and then when I wake up, you know, 6 or 7, that's a good chunk of time without the phone, first and foremost. And then my wife usually gets up before. Our new routine is my wife wakes up before, she goes upstairs, she works. I get up with the kids. I give them the snack, put on their jackets, because it's been cold in Austin. And then we go for our walk out on the road by our house. We go for this walk. Depending on how light or foggy it is, it might change the route, so I don't want to get hit by a car. But we usually do about three miles. And then we come back. I give them their breakfast.

• 4:51Ryan Holiday?

  My wife is showering or on the Peloton, or maybe she's cooked breakfast for them, whatever. I go back into the bedroom. I sit down with my journals, including the Daily Stoic Journal, which the passage I just read is from. And then I do my sort of thinking. So, the Daily Stoic Journal is supposed to be, you do a morning reflection and an evening reflection. Just because I've been busy lately, I typically, I'll do the evening reflection in the morning. So I'll reflect on how I did with the thing I was thinking about yesterday. And then I sort of set my intention for the day as well. And so, what I like about the journal is just the questions, right? So, I'm reading this, I do these a little bit before. But so, let's see what today's question was.

• 5:35Ryan Holiday?

  I'm recording this on the, today's the 23rd. So today's question was, "If I relaxed my tight grip on life, what would happen?" So I'm taking a minute, I'm just thinking about, you know, what am I trying to control too hard? What am I trying to force? What can I let go of? And then yesterday's was about, "What wisdom will I create?" So I was sort of reflecting on what I'm learning, what I'm... Pushing myself on what I'm thinking about. So it's just, you know, it's just a wonderful little part of the morning. And it's, it's been an integral part of my day. Epictetus says, every day and night, keep thoughts like these at hand. Write them, read them aloud, talk to yourself and others about them. That's what Stoicism is, this sort of interplay, this, this, uh, this engaging with the material and re-engaging it.

• 6:19Ryan Holiday?

  You know, Epictetus, I, I love the, all the questions he's asking himself. What am I lacking? Where, what's, you know, disrupting my tranquility? What am I? Like, who am I? What's demanded of me? You know, he's reminding himself to meditate on his actions. He's looking at how he's steered away from serenity. You know, what did he do wrong? Where did he fall short? What, where did he fail? And I'm glad you're listening to this, but as we, so we sort of wrapped up the year, it's not just about, it's not that one-way conversation. It's not the Stoics talking to you. It's not my writing talking to you. It's not the self-improvement books you're reading. It's not the, it's not the podcast you're listening to. It should also be, what are you putting out there? What are you asking yourself? What are you thinking about? That's how we improve. That's how we grow.

• 7:04Ryan Holiday?

  And I think that's a great habit for the year. So if you're not journaling, you should. If you are journaling, I would push you to sort of ask yourself these questions. But then I'd also just, you know, make sure you have some of that time for that sort of stillness and reflection and contemplation in the morning. And make sure you're asking yourself questions in the morning. I, I think even the walk that I'm doing, you know, I'm, I'm thinking about stuff. My mind is engaged. Uh, and, and that's what, that's what helps me kick off a great day. And as we said, what's well begun is half done. So let's get out there. I wish you a great morning, uh, whatever time zone you're in. I hope, uh, 2021 is off to a good start for you.

• 7:44Ryan Holiday?

  And, uh, looking forward to connecting with you over the next 12 months and making this a great year.

• 7:54Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Thanks so much for listening. If you could leave a review for the podcast, we'd really appreciate it. The, the reviews make a difference. And of course, every nice review from a nice person helps balance out the crazy people who get triggered and angry anytime we say something they disagree with. So if you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and would really help the show. We appreciate it. I'll see you next episode.