Your Saturday Stoic Review — Week of May 16 - 22

​ ​ PASSAGE OF THE WEEK: A person who is a friend to themselves, Seneca wrote, is an aid to all mankind. They are kind. They are calm. They have empathy—for themselves and for others. They aren't desperate. They can quietly spend time alone. They don't need to pull others down to lift themselves up. They can stand on the shoulders of giants, as Isaac Newton said, instead of stepping on their necks to secure advantage. — This Is What Progress Looks Like (Listen) YOUTUBE TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK: In one of the most watched videos on the Daily Stoic YouTube Channel this week, Ryan Holiday shares 6 of the best answers and strategies given to him by guests of the Daily Stoic podcast. One comes from Tim Ferriss, "There's the expression, 'a vessel that holds acid is damaged more than anything it pours acid upon.' If you are a vessel of anger or complaining, it does more damage to you than that which you point it at. If you want to maintain or improve your health, your wellbeing and your ability to function...address complaining, which is easier to identify and measure sometimes than anger, but there is a very significant carryover effect into decreasing anger." PODCAST TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK: ​ On the Daily Stoic podcast this week, Ryan interviewed the author Rich Cohen about his new book The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World's Greatest Negotiator, the keys to being a great negotiator, the many lessons Rich learned from his father, including: "One of my father's big things is the key to success is to care, but not that much. To remain detached. To look at this situation you're so worried about and say, 'it's merely a blip on the radar screen of eternity.'" WHAT RYAN HOLIDAY IS READING: "The truth as I see it is that people can both struggle and remain upbeat simultaneously, through even the most soul-testing of challenges." — Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder YOUR STOIC WEEKEND REMINDER: You could leave life right now. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a pair of glasses you could put on that changed how you viewed anything and everything that happens. Well, the good news is that there is and it comes to us—no surprise—from the Stoics. All you have to do, the Stoics said, is tell yourself that you could leave life at any moment. Memento Mori. Let the thought of your mortality*, Marcus Aurelius said, "determine what you do and say and think." Would you rather be stuck in traffic or dead forever? Would you rather be attacked by trolls or your corpse attacked by maggots? Would you rather be sick or or stretched out on your literal deathbed? Alive or not? Let's put this all in perspective. Let's see today as a gift. You get to live. Don't waste it. (For more on this idea, watch this video!) THIS WEEK'S BEST SOCIAL MEDIA POST: "Don't be ashamed to need help" - Marcus Aurelius​ ​ EMAIL OF THE WEEK: ​How to Change the World (Listen) If you want to learn more about the history of memento mori, you can read this article. Or to learn about one of Ryan Holiday's daily memento mori practices, you can watch this video. And if you want your own physical reminder to create priority, humility, and appreciation for life, get the Memento Mori Calendar. ​ ​The Memento Mori Calendar has 4,160 dots, each dot representing a week of your life and each row representing 2 years of your life. By filling in the Memento Mori Calendar every week, you will not only see how much life you've already lived (or as Seneca says, how much you've already died), but also how much life you've (hopefully) got left. And of course, none of those to-be-filled-in dots are guaranteed. Every day it is true: this could be your last day on this planet. Memento Mori. For more, go to dailystoic.com/mmcalendar​ ​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 906 Main Street #274, Bastrop, Texas 78602