Make Beautiful Choices

Epictetus says that “if your choices are beautiful, so too will you be.” It’s simple and it’s true. You are what your choices make you, nothing more and nothing less. Today will present you with plenty of opportunities to choose between—to choose beauty or ugliness; kindness or selfishness; mercy or vengeance; serenity or anger. There will be little choices—what you eat, how you talk to people, whether you pick up the television remote or a book, what you think about—and there will be bigger choices too: whether you stand up for what’s right, whether you reach down to help someone who needs it, what kind of work you do, what standards you hold yourself to. It’s often easier to make the ugly, selfish, vengeful angry choice. To choose to give into your temper or to keep doing things the way you’ve always done them. Beautiful choices—like physical fitness or perfect skin—are rarely as effortless as they seem. No, there is a regimen behind them. It takes exercise, it takes discipline, it takes sacrifice. But when you see the results? Well, it can take your breath away. 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. Make beautiful choices. Epictetus says, "If your choices are beautiful, so too will you be." It's simple, and it's true. You are what your choices make you, nothing more and nothing less. Today, we'll present you with plenty of opportunities to choose, to choose between

• 0:49Ryan Holiday?

  beauty and ugliness, kindness or selfishness, mercy or vengeance, serenity or anger. There will be little choices: what you eat, how you talk to people, whether you pick up the television remote or a book, what you think about. And there will be bigger choices, too, whether you stand up for what's right, whether you reach down to help someone who needs it, what kind of work you do, what kind of standards you hold yourself to. It's often easier to make the ugly, selfish, vengeful, angry choice, to choose to give in to your temper, or to keep doing things the way you've always done them. Beautiful choices, like physical fitness or perfect skin, are rarely as effortless

• 1:32Ryan Holiday?

  as they seem. No, there is a regimen behind them. It takes exercise, it takes discipline, it takes sacrifice. But when you see the results, well, it can take your breath away. If you like the podcast that we do here, and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.