Here is a Pleasure You Can Have Anytime

The Stoics did not reject worldly pleasures. They rejected the reckless ones. The dangerous, ephemeral ones. The Stoics were not afraid of joy. They just wanted to earn it. Epictetus loved to quote Socrates: “Just as one person delights in improving his farm, and another his horse, so I delight in attending to my own improvement day by day.”Delight! Not a word you’d expect from Epictetus, but there it is. And to be found in such an unexpected way. Not in material things. Not in a hobby. But in oneself—in improving oneself. We can imagine Marcus Aurelius actually having fun while writing his Meditations, because he was attending to his own development. The same goes for Seneca as he did his crazy philosophical practices, whether it was diving into a freezing fountain at the beginning of the new year or living frugally to prepare himself for changes in fortune. Cato took real pleasure in challenging himself—to walk barefoot and bareheaded, to sleep on the ground with his soldiers, to dress simply and to work hard. And so can you. We can become our own hobby. We can become our own source of satisfaction. The economy determines what we can do professionally, but no one can stop us from working on ourselves personally. Nor can anyone or anything take away the pleasure we earn by getting better day by day. This is just one of the reasons we’ve set up our New Year New You Challenge, which starts in just six days. Now’s your chance to commit to attending to your own improvement in 2020 and to experience the joy and rewards that come from challenging yourself. See 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.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Here is a pleasure you can have anytime. The Stoics did not reject pleasure, they just rejected the dangerous ones, the ephemeral ones. They were not afraid of joy, they just wanted to earn it. Epictetus loved to quote Socrates, "Just as one delights in improving

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  his farm and another his horse, so I delight in attending to my own improvement day by day." Delight, not a word you'd expect from Epictetus, but there it is. And to be found in such an unexpected way, not in material things, not in a hobby, but in oneself, in improving oneself. We can imagine Marcus Aurelius actually having fun while writing his meditations, because he was attending to his own development. The same goes for Seneca, as he did his crazy philosophical practices, whether it was diving into a freezing fountain at the beginning of the new year, or living frugally to prepare himself for

• 1:26Ryan Holiday?

  changes in fortune. Cato took real pleasure in challenging himself, walking barefoot and bareheaded, to sleeping on the ground with his soldiers, in dressing simply and working hard. And so can you. We can become our own hobby, we can become our own source of satisfaction. The economy determines what we can do professionally, but no one can stop us from working on ourselves personally, nor can anyone or anything take away the pleasure we earn by getting better day to day. And by the way, this is one of the reasons we've set up our New Year, New You Challenge, which starts in just a few days. Now's your chance to commit to attending to your own improvement in 2020 and to

• 2:09Ryan Holiday?

  experience the joy and the rewards that will come out of challenging yourself. Check it out at dailystoic.com/challenge. But January 1st is the cutoff. I'll see you there and we will delight together in our own improvement.