February 22, 2021

Stoicism and the Art of Resilience‬ | The Daily Stoic

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How does one cultivate resilience?
- It starts with identifying what is within our control and what isn’t
  - Ex: What other people say is not up to us, but how we respond is. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that’s only because you allowed your mind to accept their insult.
    - “We always retain the power to choose our response” – Ryan Holiday
Choose resilience over resentment and look for the good in the situation or what you can control to improve the circumstance at hand
- “There’s always some good hiding in or around the bad. You have to look for it and you have to grab hold of it. This is how we thrive in life.” – Ryan Holiday
To be resilience, you need to build resilience through hard tasks
- Part of the practice includes embracing adversity and challenges
  - “Every time life throws something at you, remember, this is training, a chance to get better” – Ryan Holiday
“Turn what life throws at you into fuel for the fire that is making you great” – Ryan Holiday

Epictetus was born into slavery as a child and spent 30 years imprisoned in forced servitude
- Epictetus had a cruel master who broke his leg and caused Epictetus to limp for the rest of his life
As a young man, Epictetus attended the lectures of the stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus
- After Epictetus was freed from slavery in his 30s, he decided to become a philosopher teacher
  - His lectures were attended by the poor, rich, powerful, and even the future emperor Hadrian

Stoicism is the art of resilience, it’s about overcoming the obstacles life throws at us
How does one cultivate resilience?
- It starts with identifying what is within our control and what isn’t
  - Ex: What other people say is not up to us, but how we respond is. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that’s only because you allowed your mind to accept their insult.
    - “We always retain the power to choose our response” – Ryan Holiday
      - You get to choose your attitude, emotions, response, and perspective
Choose resilience over resentment and look for the good in the situation or what you can control to improve the circumstance at hand
- “There’s always some good hiding in or around the bad. You have to look for it and you have to grab hold of it. This is how we thrive in life.” – Ryan Holiday
To be resilience, you need to build resilience through hard tasks
- Part of the practice includes embracing adversity and challenges
  - “Every time life throws something at you, remember, this is training, a chance to get better” – Ryan Holiday
The art of acquiescence is when you accept your situation and understand there’s nothing you can do at the moment to change things
- Remember the phrase “Amor fati”–it means to embrace your fate
“Turn what life throws at you into fuel for the fire that is making you great” – Ryan Holiday