Stoicism

The Secret To Happiness Is Simple: Live Life Like A Stoic

 Stoicism
• It is no secret that our lives are what we make of them.
• How we respond to life’s twists and turns is what defines its
quality.
• How we choose to confront the many challenges we face
each day defines our quality as people.
Our Lives Are What We Make Of Them
 Stoicism
• Ancient Greece is universally regarded as the cradle of
philosophical thought.
• The Ancient Greeks sought to answer the eternal questions of
humanity, trying to make sense of a turbulent universe and
the place of human beings in that universe.
Ancient Greece is universally regarded as the cradle of
philosophical thought
 Stoicism
• The Greeks introduced the world to several philosophies
about to life and religion.
• They taught us so many things that human beings used in
order to evolve into mature individuals, capable of taking on
the ways of the world and coming out victorious when faced
with adversities.
The Greeks introduced the world to several philosophies
about to life and religion
 Stoicism
• Stoicism is one of the gifts of ancient Athens.
• Stoicism continues to have a philosophical draw for
many, with its emphasis on the importance of
detaching from one’s emotions in order to live a life of
virtue and to develop one’s self as a moral being.
Stoicism is one of the gifts of ancient Athens
 Stoicism
• As a philosophy, Stoicism takes a hard look at destructive
emotions.
• Stoics feel that self-control and fortitude can help overcome
the damaging and detrimental effects of negative and/or
intense emotions.
Stoicism
 Stoicism
• What Stoicism aimed to achieve was improvement
of the individual’s morals and ethics as well as
teaching followers to develop their innate tendency to
virtue as their primary goal in life.
Stoicism Aimed To Achieve Was Improvement Of
The Individual’s Morals And Ethics
 History of Stoicism
• Stoicism, as a discipline, was propounded by Zeno of
Citium in 308 BC at Athens, Greece.
• Zeno was born in 335 BC and came to Athens
around the time that he proposed the theory,
already in his early forties.
Zeno of Citium
 History of Stoicism
• The Stoa Poikile (the painted porch) became the locus
for the teachings of Zeno and a gathering place for his
followers, also giving the philosophical school –
Stoicism – its name.
• From this location in the Athenian agora
(marketplace) Zeno taught his followers.
The Stoa Poikile
 History of Stoicism

• He believed that by changing the manner in which

people thought about life events, they could detach
from negative and harmful emotions, reducing
suffering toward improving their lives.
• For Zeno, life was not so much what people made
of it as how they thought about it.
Life Was Not So Much What People Made Of It As How
They Thought About It
The Central Teaching Of Stoicism
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

• Zeno believed that human beings could be so obsessed

by and stuck in their own modes of thinking that they
allowed this tendency to manifest in out-of control
emotions, like envy and jealousy.
• Although it was not Zeno’s intention to forbid his
followers an emotional life, he believed that it was
possible for people to control their emotions
through their thoughts.
Zeno’s Philosophical Approach
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

• His fundamental proposition was that

“man conquers the world by conquering himself.”
• “APATHEIA,” or the idea of self-mastery, was at the center
of his teachings and was expressive of the belief that
emotional detachment should be the goal of all virtuous
people.
• An “absence of passion” (which he considered to be a threat
to a life of virtue, achieved through rational thought) was the
end goal for followers of Stoicism.
Apatheia
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

• In mastering one’s emotions and physical demands, Zeno

taught that wisdom could properly be developed by claiming
its rightful place in the mind of the Stoic practitioner.
• Pain and pleasure could be mastered in meditative practice,
and the influence of emotions arising from these psycho-
physical phenomena could be quelled.
Pain and pleasure could be mastered in
meditative practice
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

“Kathekon”
• (which may be loosely translated as “fitting or righteous
action”) is also attributable to Zeno.
• Kathekon refers to fitting action as parallel to the laws of
nature, determined through observation as about growth of
the practice of apatheia
Kathekon
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach
• Zeno suggested that two powers were in play at any given time,
being the active realm and the passive realm and that these two
powers existed in a dynamic tension that held the whole together.
• The passive realm consisted of all those items that lie passive until
provoked into action, only when they are pressed to do so.
• The active realm, on the other hand, consists of all those things
that operate automatically, and run their own, natural course
unless provoked and modified to run a different course.
active realm and the passive realm
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

• So, all human beings are products of both these realms,

working in dynamic tension with each other, forming an
immutable whole, which is Zeno’s static and fixed
universal model.
Zeno’s Philosophical Approach
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach

• Zeno also believed that all happiness lay within the

individual and preached this philosophy specifically
to those who sought joy in external sources.
All Happiness Lay Within The Individual
 Zeno’s Philosophical Approach
• There were two kinds of matter, according to the Stoics:
• That which can be seen and touched, and the finer matter, which
cannot be seen, but only sensed.
• This was more like a breath or spirit or a Divine entity whose presence
could only be felt and imagined and which held everything together.
• These types of matter were also given different names to go with their
properties:
• Logos (Divine reason),
• Pneuma (Divine breath), and
• Pronoia (Divine providence).
 Logos (Divine reason)
Pneuma (Divine breath)
Pronoia (Divine providence

Pronoia (Divine providence)

Logos (Divine reason) Pneuma (Divine breath)

 Stoicism
• The Stoics might have lived in ancient times, but their thoughts were
definitely modern.
• They viewed the world as one big living organism.
• Ultimately, according to Stoicism, the human soul would merge
into the cosmos.
• Stoic beliefs also taught people that the soul was a part of God,
residing within human bodies, and showering intelligence and wealth
upon us.
According To Stoicism, The Human Soul Would
Merge Into The Cosmos
 Core Philosophies of stoicism
Control What You Can
• The very first proposition is that you come to an understanding about
what is in your control and what is not.
• Not everything in the world is within your ability to change,
improve, or control. Some things, you have to accept, are part of a
greater reality in which you exist, but which is not subject to your
will.
• Say, for example, that your anger is in your control but external forces
provoking it are out of your control. You need to understand that your
response to whatever it is that has provoked your anger is within your
control. It’s your choice how you answer that.
Control what You Can
 Emotions Are Within
• This is one of the most important philosophies of Stoicism.
• The Stoics believe that emotions are to be detached from externals
and are solely created by our own thoughts and feelings.
• Most people believe that their emotions are the result of what they
see and hear from the outside world.
• But how can the world create your personal emotions? It can only
create thoughts, which can stir emotions. But if you control your
thoughts (in response to external stimuli), then you can control
your emotions.
Emotions Are Within
 Your Responses Are Your Responsibility
Your responses (actions arising from emotional responses) are also
your responsibility.
• This means that the emotions arising from your thoughts that give rise
to your actions (for better or worse) are all linked and dependent on
one another.
• It is all within your control, regardless of the event that has
precipitated the thought-emotion-action.
• Life is full of ups and downs. There’s no question of that. But your
responses can either lift you up or pull you down.
Your Responses Are Your Responsibility
 Honesty Is a Virtue

Treat honesty as your life’s primary virtue. Honesty brings out the
best in you.
• Lying fills you with the dread of discovery.
• It forces you to desperately try to remember what story you’ve told
various people and if those stories match. It brings worry and invites
catastrophe into your life.
• Choosing honesty as a primary virtue permits you to release
worry and to replace it with the knowledge that you have chosen
the path of virtue in a world of deceit.
Honesty Is a Virtue
 Hope Springs Eternal

Hope is a virtue, as it’s an eternal spring you can drink

from and also share with others.
• Hope is a virtue that leads you on in life, even leading you
through those times that challenge and can even break you.
The hope that life will get better, or even just continue, leads
you through those times.
Hope Springs Eternal
 Knowledge is your salvation

Knowledge is your salvation.

• Read as much as you can and spend time in the company of those who
are wise and who know more than you do.
• Gather as much knowledge and information as you can from the wide
variety of sources that are available to you, and go through them in
detail to refresh and update your memory from time to time.
• You’ll begin to appreciate the role of knowledge in your life as
something to be turned to in times you’d least expect it might
serve you. Knowledge will improve the overall quality of your life
and relationships. Fill your mind with it.
Knowledge is your salvation
 Mindfulness is Important

• The Stoic philosophy stresses that you must remain indifferent to

the various situations in life, but that mindfulness and living fully
in the moment are of paramount importance.
• Mindfulness refers to being completely present in each moment and
understanding what’s happening around you.
• Even if you’re presented with a negative situation, you need to
remain indifferent but mindful and fully aware.
Mindfulness is Important
 Mindfulness is Important
Mindfulness is a window to understanding the world objectively,
seeing it for what it is, and making the decision not to allow it to
impact your way forward.
• It’s a practice that demands you be fully aware of all that is positive, as
well as all that is negative, in order to be able to fully detach yourself
from outcomes.
• You are an observer and processor of information, whether that
information suits you or not.
 Morals Not Awards
• Stoicism teaches that life is to be measured through the
application of virtues, morals, and right action.
• These are an end in themselves; you are not seeking a reward for
practicing them. They are the reward and the purpose of your life.
Rewards are only temporary and will not help you remain happy
forever.
• By living a virtuous life, freed from the oppression of emotions
and attachments, you are living your reward. Virtue is its own
reward.
Morals Not Awards
 Letting God

• At any time in life, if you feel someone has emotionally parted from
you, it’s important that you accept this is as the “new normal” and
choose not to brood over the departure, analyze it, or give in to
despair.
• Once someone starts to show signs of not being emotionally
invested in a relationship with you, accepting that decision and not
clinging to the relationship, or questioning the motives of the
departing person, is another value that detachment from negative
emotions has for you. You are spared unnecessary suffering.
• Even if the departing person tries to hurt you, you must be completely
in command of your emotions and as indifferent as possible.
Letting God
 Every Day Is a New Day

Each morning, you start fresh.

• You literally hit the refresh button in your head and start
all over on the new day. Don’t dwell on the possibility of a
negative or unpleasant situation repeating itself.
• Even if it does, you will have the knowledge to deal with it.
But be on the lookout for opportunities that will help you
increase your knowledge base.
Every Day Is a New Day
 Every Day Is a New Day

• Don’t hold on to anything for the next day and forget

about it as soon as it’s resolved.
• Once you’ve objectively unpacked it, put it away.
• You must be optimistic and move beyond negativity and
misfortune, doing your best to be as rational and
indifferent as possible.
Every Day Is a New Day
 Every Day Is a New Day

• These form the core concepts of Stoic philosophy,

translated to a modern understanding of the original
intent.
• Clearly, these are practical ideas and, while they’re a
challenge to our emotionally driven understanding of
the world.
 Cardinal Virtues of Stoicism

• Zeno, introduced Stoicism to ancient Athens.

• In those times, there were some core virtues
considered by the Greeks to be indispensable to the
order of a successful society.
Cardinal Virtues of Stoicism
 Cardinal Virtues of Stoicism

Wisdom is the first cardinal virtue of Stoicism.

• Wisdom, as we know, is a crucial virtue for everyone to
pursue and something that can help increase our
understanding of life, its beauty, and our place in it.
• Wisdom is regarded as a cardinal virtue because it can
help people lead a better life, by helping them make the
right choices for themselves and those around them.
Wisdom is the first cardinal virtue of Stoicism
 Cardinal Virtues of Stoicism

• A wise person will look at all factors in any given

situation, analyzing it through different lenses.
• He will then form an opinion about it and remain detached
from the outcome.
• Action informed by wisdom is measured and appropriate
 Courage
The second cardinal virtue of Stoicism is courage.
• Courage is a virtue that increases your resilience for those times when
the winds of life buffet you.
• Courage is a virtue that manifests both physically and
intellectually.
• Physical courage is your body’s ability to withstand challenges that
demand a physical response. By maintaining your health mindfully
and intentionally, you will be prepared for whatever life throws at you.
Challenges can range from dealing with physical pain and disability to
undergoing surgery, or even a natural disaster in which you have to
fend for yourself.
The second cardinal virtue of Stoicism is courage
Courage
 Courage

• The next form of courage is mental, or intellectual,

courage. The strength of your will is your ability to control
your thoughts and the emotions and actions that result from
them.
• Nothing in life is permanent and knowing that is courageous.
Knowing that prepares you for the change that will come,
regardless of how stable we believe our world is.
 Equanimity

Equanimity is emotional balance and the ability to

maintain composure through even the most difficult
situations.
• An outgrowth of self-control, equanimity is born of dedicated
practice.
• It permits the detachment of the self from the temporal nature
of life, allowing it to live in the world you’re creating, the
world of virtue and the acceptance of life’s unpredictability.
Equanimity
Equanimity
 Self-Control

Temperance is the ability to maintain balance in your life

and person and that involves self-control.
• This is a cardinal virtue, as self-mastery is one of Stoicism’s
primary goals and teachings.
• Balance in your life creates balance in your world and this
is achieved through the mastery of excessive passions.
• Tempering your thoughts and emotions will temper your
actions and the result will be peace and equilibrium.
Self-Control
 Self-Control

• Self-control also involves abstaining from bad habits.

• Stay away from substances, situations, people, and actions
that have the potential to affect you negatively.
• Leading a temperate life is a reward in itself, as it’s better
for you all around. Excising the negative means excising
habits that do you only harm.
Self-Control
 Self-Control

• The cardinal virtues form a strong foundation for the

practice of philosophical Stoicism as a way of life.
• By embracing them, the positive changes in your
life will be apparent.
 A Few Stoic Principles
Self-Mastery
• In mastering ourselves, our thoughts, and our emotions, we
take control of what we believe are external factors, but
which are really the result of negative thoughts and the
emotions they drive.
• By actively working to master our intellectual responses
to events around us, we become able to detach from them.
Self-Mastery
 A Few Stoic Principles
Find A Mentor
• Everyone needs someone to look up to, seek advice from and share
thoughts and ideas with. This could be a co-worker, a parent, friend,
or superior.
• Anyone, really, can serve as a mentor.
• Choose someone with similar interests in the pursuit of virtue and
self-mastery; someone with a spiritual wisdom you aspire to
yourself. This person can be a valuable guide as you build your
virtue and learn to master yourself.
Find A Mentor
 A Few Stoic Principles
Failure is just a step in life
• It’s natural to feel lousy about failure, but as a Stoic, you know it’s
going to happen, right?
• By understanding that failure is just another learning experience
and by becoming less attached to outcomes, you will understand
that failure is not half the catastrophe you once thought it was.
• Without failure, you will never know yourself as a person or the
stuff you’re made of.
Failure Is Just A Step In Life
 A Few Stoic Principles
Read to educate yourself
• Read books about great leaders in world affairs, politics, and
spirituality who changed the world by being in it. Educate yourself
about their achievements. Read also about world religions and spiritual
movements.
• Nourish yourself with knowledge and seek to glean from what you
learn those things that will support you on your own quest for
virtuous living.
Read to educate yourself
 A Few Stoic Principles
Be Honest With Yourself
• Many a time, we hide behind a veneer of artificiality and delusions,
especially when confronted with decisions we don’t want to make, or
people and emotions we’d rather not tackle. Be honest with yourself.
• Examine yourself daily to ensure that you’re growing and not
going backwards.
Be Honest With Yourself
 A Few Stoic Principles
Be aware of what you spend your time on
• In order to develop yourself, prioritize your activities.
• Be aware of the time you’re spending in pursuits which aren’t
moving you closer toward your goals of self-mastery and virtuous
living.
• Self-awareness and time management are aspects of virtue you
need to pay close attention to. Wasting time represents a deficit in
self-mastery.
Be aware of what you spend your time on
 A Few Stoic Principles

Recognize what you can’t control

• Some things are beyond our ability to control.
• Don’t be anxious about these things. Don’t worry about them. Why?
They’re beyond your control.
• Stoicism is about creating and reaching a profound level of inner
peace and happiness.
• To achieve this, keep a firm leash on your emotions when dealing
with the unexpected and unwanted. Your happiness does not
depend on external sources. Find it within yourself and accept
those things that you can’t change as what they are – external.
Recognize what you can’t control
 A Few Stoic Principles

Live A Principled Life

• Of course, living in this big, shiny, distracting world, surrounded by
untold wealth and temptation, it’s easy to stray from the path of right
action.
• But living a life led by ethics, principles, and values is richer and
more fulfilling than a life filled with stuff and money.
• You can’t take it with you. When you die, your values and your
principles will be talked about more than your wealth or your
position
Live A Principled Life
 A Few Stoic Principles
You Can’t Control Other People
• Other people’s rudeness and mis-behavior isn’t your concern. People
who can’t keep a leash on their less pleasant side are to be pitied –they
know not what they do. But you do. A person who follows the Stoic
path will never react emotionally to a negative action or word.
• He knows that the other person’s behaviour is not in their hands.
• He can’t control the other person’s speech or actions. So there’s no
point worrying about them. They’re external matters that have no
impact on the happiness of a Stoic.
You Can’t Control Other People
 Conclusion
• Far from being a dead philosophical stream, Stoicism is a relevant,
modern system for living philosophically that benefits people who
adhere to its tenets, all over the world.
• Its answers to the modern problems of stress and professional burnout,
for example, have been beneficial for many seeking to live happier,
more peaceful lives.
• Stoicism’s rejection of emotional responses as the answer to the
world’s challenges is also a discipline that many have found
worthy of undertaking, discovering that psychological detachment
from matters beyond their control promotes greater wellbeing.
stoicism
 The Stoic Philosophers

Seneca the Younger

• (c. 4 BC – AD 65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca, was a Roman
Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and—in one work—satirist of the Silver Age of Latin
literature.

“Brave men rejoice in adversity,

just as brave soldiers triumph in
war.”
― Lucius Annaeus Seneca
 The Stoic Philosophers

Epictetus
• Epictetus (c. 55 – 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher.
• Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not just a theoretical
discipline.

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

― Epictetus
 The Stoic Philosophers
Zeno of Citium
• Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic thinker
• Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens
from about 300 BC

“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”

― Zeno of Citium
 The Stoic Philosophers
Marcus Aurelius
• Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Augustus; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD) called
the Philosopher, was Roman emperor from 161 to 180.
• He was the last of the rulers traditionally known as the Five Good Emperors.
• He was a practitioner of Stoicism.

“waste no more time arguing about what a

good man should be. Be one.”
― Marcus Aurelius
 References
• Epictetus
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus
• Seneca the Younger
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
• Stoicism
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism
• Stoicism: Practical Philosophy You Can Actually Use
• https://ryanholiday.net/stoicism-a-practical-philosophy-you-can-actually-use/
• Marcus Aurelius
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
• The Stoics
• https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-great-philosophers-the-stoics/
• The secret to happiness is simple: live like a Stoic for a week
• https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/secret-to-happiness-stoic-epictetus-wellness-a8559126.html
 References

• Want An Unconquerable Mind? Try Stoic Philosophy

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2013/12/01/want-an-unconquerable-mind-try-stoic-
philosophy/#7868e1f6750c
• What Is Stoicism?
• https://dailystoic.com/
• Who Were The Stoic Philosophers?
• https://dailystoic.com/the-stoic-philosophers/
• Zeno of Citium
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_of_Citium
• 28 Books On Stoicism:
• https://dailystoic.com/books-on-stoicism/
Thanks…