Ordinary Faces

We present the following which we hope uplifts and engages all:

PASSAGE OF THE WEEK:

Since their lives proved it, we can imagine the Stoics would have liked the line from Don Draper in Mad Men:

“Let’s also say that change is neither good or bad. It simply is. It can be greeted with terror or joy: a tantrum that says, ‘I want it the way it was,’ or a dance that says, ‘Look, something new.’”

But the Stoics knew that it was more than just a game of perception. It’s what you do about it. It’s how you respond. You choose to see the events of life as neither good nor bad, just objective, just reality. Yes, that’s part one. But part two is the most important: it’s the making them good. It’s seeing it not just as new, but as a new opportunity. And then making it one, as Stockdale said, that in retrospect you’d never have traded away.

— Will You Dance or Throw A Tantrum? (Listen)

YOUTUBE TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK:

In one of the most watched videos on the Daily Stoic YouTube Channel this week, Ryan Holiday explains the Stoic mindset that will help you get through life’s most difficult situations. The Stoic phrase is amor fati (a love of fate)—not wishing things were different, not looking backwards, not wasting time arguing about how unfair this or that is, but learning to accept and love everything that happens. As Ryan explains,

“You have two options: you can want things to turn out a certain way or you could welcome them the way they happen. Epictetus says, you could want them to turn out as you want them to, or you could decide that you want them to turn out how they’ve turned out. For the Stoics, this is the discipline of assent—are you going to wish things are a certain way or are you going to accept them as they are? That doesn’t mean you accept the injustices of the world per se…You accept things as they are, that you were given what you’ve been given. And then get to work using it.”

Watch the full video: How To Get Through Life’s Most Difficult Situations | Amor Fati

PODCAST TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK:

On a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, Ryan Holiday talked to the NFL Hall of Famer, Tony Gonzalez. The two talked about the difficulty people have with change, how Tony has handled the transition into life after pro football, what it takes to become elite, the common traits of the greats, and why Tony doesn’t care what most people think:

“You can put me in whatever box you want, I’m going to be okay. Because I have my inner circle—I have my wife, I have my children, and I have my close really good friends, and I care about what they think. But for most people out there, I want to be the best I can, I’m trying for that, it’s important to me. But I’m not connected to that. I don’t need it. I want it—I want you to approve of me, but i don’t need you to approve me. I’m working my ass off to perform for you on the football field. Or the transition to broadcasting or acting, which is what i’m doing now—I’m going to work my ass off to do the best I can, to present the best product or best performance I can, and I want you to like it. But if you don’t, then there’s nothing more I can do. It’s out of my control. I guess that’s Stoicism right there.”

Listen to the full episode: Tony Gonzalez on Becoming Your Best Self (Watch on YouTube)

WHAT RYAN HOLIDAY IS READING:

“One of the most ideas to convey in writing history and biography is that events past were never on a track. Things could have gone any number of different ways for any number of reasons almost any time, and they who lived in those other vanished years had no way of knowing how it would all turn out any more than we do. That the frail, frightened, peculiar little boy who is the center of this book would turn out to be the robust Theodore Roosevelt of history, symbol of American confidence and vitality at the turn of the twentieth century, is surely a case in point.”

— Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough

YOUR STOIC WEEKEND REMINDER:

It’s impossible to learn that which you think you already know.

To the Stoics, particularly Zeno, conceitedness was the primary impediment to wisdom. Because when you’ve always got answers, opinions and ready-made solutions, what you’re not doing is learning. What you’re not doing is looking at things objectively, clearly, with fresh eyes. You’re just relying on instinct and preconceived notions.

Ego is the enemy for a reason. It blinds us. It distracts us. It puffs us up and prevents us from learning. The less of a know it all we are, the more we can actually get out and discover. The more open we’ll be. The wiser we’ll become.

(For more on this idea, watch this video!)

THIS WEEK'S BEST SOCIAL MEDIA POST: