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Micro wisdom delivered to your ears every morning in voice notes ranging from 3 to 15 minutes long. Wisdom on how to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. Every podcast will ground you in the present moment to ensure you know what's important, the here and now.
Hello. Hello. Welcome to the one day at a time podcast. We're back, guys, with another delightful episode. But before that, listen to this.
Speaker 1:Is that not the song or the sound of having a good day? It means you're gonna get your steps in, and you're gonna have a good day. Anyway, music does help a lot, doesn't it? So let's talk today about more stoicism, obviously. Obviously, we're still on that.
Speaker 1:So today's more about like a few stoic quotes. They're actually quite confusing in translation. Luckily we got people like legends like Donald Robertson, who's a stoicism expert, Scottish Socrates. I've done a few q and a's and worked with over the past, so I'm gonna cover a few of them. And hopefully, some of them stick, maybe if they don't, then I'm sorry because these are really, really helpful.
Speaker 1:So here's something Epictetus says. Okay? The original thing he says, and I'll do the modern version. So he says, is a little oil spilt or a little wine stolen? Say in addition, this is the price paid for being dispassionate and tranquil and nothing is to be had for nothing.
Speaker 1:The modern version is. Sorry, guys. Just need to check that I was recording now. Thought it was off. Modern version is someone spilled my drink, took something of mine.
Speaker 1:Okay. That's the cost of staying calm. Nothing in life comes for free, not even peace of mind. Okay? So keeping your composure isn't something for free.
Speaker 1:You're gonna have people every day coming up to you, annoying you. Something's gonna annoy you. Something you're gonna read bothers you. The weight on the scale, maybe that bothers you, but hey, you gotta keep your composure with these things. It's not easy.
Speaker 1:Some of them is easier than others. But he's saying here, listen, don't don't catastrophize over those things, the small things. Don't do it. So he says here, lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. Say this, you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.
Speaker 1:The modern version of that means. And this is about having basically got a lame leg. His leg what? His leg? I think his left leg or right leg.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Don't feel it was off or you just couldn't use it. So he says, this might slow my body down, having a lame leg, but it doesn't have to touch my spirit or my mindset. That's essentially what he's saying. You might be injured right now.
Speaker 1:Okay? It's gonna hamper your spirits a bit. You might not be able to walk. You might not be able to train. You might not be able to do things.
Speaker 1:But if you are to be composed and strong, does it have to impact your spirit that much? Can you focus on other things instead? Can you maybe study more? Do other things? You can meet you can do there's always something you can direct the energy towards if if one of the roads becomes blocked.
Speaker 1:Alright? So illness is one, injury is one, realizing you can't do what you did twenty years ago is one, time is one, oh my god, how am I gonna get all this thing to do time? I got taking kids to school or start a new business or I want to change jobs or I'm jobs hurt, like, come on. This is why the philosophy of Bruce Lee, which came from one of my favorite philosophers, Krishnamurti, is he says, you gotta be formless, like water. If water water goes into the cup, it becomes the cup.
Speaker 1:And if water goes down the stream and the rock, it goes around it. It it doesn't stop. Water is formless, shapeless. It will adapt. Okay?
Speaker 1:We have to also be this way. Flexible. Flexible with food choices. Flexible with what we can achieve each week when it comes to what we're do activity wise. Flexible in terms of what we can do work wise.
Speaker 1:Flexible with what we can do when we wanna read and everything has to be flexible. Life is not rigid. Okay? You can put the best routine down. You can write it all out you want.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean you're gonna hit there, the stoics are this reverse clause. They were like, hey, hopefully, I get to do that. But if things block my way, hey, it's out of my control. I did what I can, and I try to be like Walter and adapt. There's a reason you know, the ancient story is I've mentioned it before, the oak tree and the bamboo.
Speaker 1:The oak tree falls down during the strong wind. Bamboo bends with the wind. How did something so big like the oak tree beat the minuscule weak skinny bamboo? Because it came down the flexibility of the bamboo and the strong winds. So we must be like bamboo.
Speaker 1:And there's no better way to really do this with food choices. Okay? Like, you can meal prep. Hey. Happy days.
Speaker 1:You can have the best recipes. But we look at the research, you know, people still don't eat the foods they that's even prepared for them. Okay? Even when they got the foods prepared in one study, they still only ate seven of the tellings they got prepared already to eat. There's something about life and our brain and how the day goes where we don't necessarily always want what's there.
Speaker 1:We wanna have something else. And we have to be able to say, that's okay. I'm not gonna panic about it. I can fit her in. You're playing Tetris with your macros, if your macros are calories, protein, whatever.
Speaker 1:So be careful be careful about being too rigid. I think people are too rigid. Do not fall into rigidity. Okay. Next one.
Speaker 1:I'll just read the modern versions, to be honest. There's no point reading the old ones because they're quite hard in there. Right. This is it says. Sure.
Speaker 1:Sure. As I say in the Welsh accent, sure. I want to do this thing, but more than that, I want to stay true to my values and keep my cool no matter what happens. Okay? Hey, I wanna go and work out, but I'm saying my core values are actually more important.
Speaker 1:My core values of temperance, moderation, justice, wisdom, courage, those types of things. Or I wanna be a person that's a good example to make it. I wanna be put someone that doesn't turn the ancient stress response used to save my life essentially, using it for such miniscule things. Okay? That's not what it's meant to be used for.
Speaker 1:It is reserved for only the seizing. I wanna be a decatastrophizer. I wanna radiate coolness wherever I go. When people interact with me, I want them to and it's like a secondary benefit, but I don't wanna add anxiety to the air, to the vibes or whatever you wanna call it. Okay?
Speaker 1:I wanna be a positive, calm, radiant person. For me to be that way, I have to put more priority on my character than, hey, I wanted to do this thing, like going to a workout, like having this specific meal, like this and that, but it just didn't work out that way. It just didn't work out that way. Okay. Next one.
Speaker 1:The old version is you are an appearance and no matter what you appear to be. So appearance would mean thought or kind of impression. So the modern vision is you're just a thought, not the truth. Let's step back and double check if what I'm feeling is real or just my mind reacting. Okay?
Speaker 1:Know, things are popping in your head. You think all of it is true? Everything is true? You are the truth? No, man.
Speaker 1:Come on. You gotta step back. You gotta take things. You gotta you gotta respond. Can't let yourself and you will, obviously, not not perfect.
Speaker 1:But day to day, if you wanna be able to practice and be this kind of you know, when we look at these people who are cow, cool, calm, collected under pressure, keep a cool head, gotta practice these things. Imagine going nuts because your weight has gone up naught point four pounds on a scale. And you know deep down my voice is telling you that is not fat, but you still panic over it. Come on. Come on.
Speaker 1:We are better than that. We are better than that. We bring facts into this. I hit my I've hit my targets all week. I've hit my step count, and I've put two pounds on the scale.
Speaker 1:How have I gained weight when I'm in a deficit? How have I gained fat when I'm in a deficit? You haven't gained fat in a deficit. But why is this happening? Because this happens.
Speaker 1:This is just how it is. The sun in the morning, the sun pops up in the morning and it goes down. And the moon's in the in the sky. And sometimes the moon's a full moon, sometimes it's not. It's just how it is.
Speaker 1:I mean, you go find out by whoever created the universe the answers to these things. I don't know the answers to these things. But why panic and worry over things outside our control, especially something that's been documented so much. Like gaining gaining water weight even when you hit your targets is as common as the sun coming up. Across the globe of people trying to lose weight, most people are gonna see fluctuations.
Speaker 1:Everyone sees fluctuations. And we still think, what is happening? People are looking at the sun rising. What is happening today? It's like the sun's rising, man.
Speaker 1:It just happens every day. So hello. Water weight up and down every day. So we can't let stuff like that. We can't let stuff like that impact us.
Speaker 1:And if it's still impacting you, you need to practice this. You're just the thought, not the truth. Let me look at you properly with facts and knowledge, and let me address you and be the adult in the room here. Okay. It is nothing to me.
Speaker 1:Do I say in addition to things external to my will that they are nothing to me? So basically, the modern version is that it doesn't concern me. If it's out of my control, I'm not giving it power over me. Similar here, your weight fluctuations. Out of your control.
Speaker 1:It's not having any power over me. Okay? Traffic jam. Can't get to the gym. Oh my god.
Speaker 1:Why can't I get to the gym? Don't let it have power over you. If it's thirty minute drive, can't walk, you do something else. You go for a walk. You do stretch thing.
Speaker 1:You go on YouTube, whatever. Or you don't work out. You do something else. Come on. That's his opinion.
Speaker 1:It seems right. Sorry. Oh, it's one cough. I'm down from five coughs of podcast to one. That's his opinion.
Speaker 1:It seems right to him. So the quote, he said or did that because he thought it was right. Doesn't mean it is. It's his mistake, not mine. So, you know, people say that, you know, it's it's it might be right to him.
Speaker 1:People do things they think is right. Okay? And it's one of those lessons, you know, people are essentially, one of Epictetus' view is people don't do things they think is wrong or bad. They do the things because they think it's good and right. And it's actually quite a concept to accept because you think, of course someone knows someone doing this bad.
Speaker 1:But he goes far, man. He does many debates in his students. He's like, they they still think it's good. To them, there's some goodness in it. Otherwise, they would it's impossible for them to do it.
Speaker 1:And if you do go into it deep enough, it's it's the truth. Someone steals, they have a righteousness that, hey, this person's gone off money. I need to feed my kids. I'm doing the right thing, even though society level is bad. Even people who smoke, it gives them stress relief.
Speaker 1:It gives them some form of anxiety relief. So even though they know it hurts their health, they still think there's a goodness for them. You know? And I think one of the examples he uses, which I do like, is that he says to someone, okay, let's see if this works then. Let's see if you can agree to something you don't think is a fact.
Speaker 1:Okay? Because he says, you have to think that it's right or factual for you to do it. You have to think that, otherwise you wouldn't do it. And it's daytime, right, when he's talking to this guy. And he goes, okay.
Speaker 1:Can you confirm right now it's nighttime right now? He's like, no. He's like, why not? He's like, well, it's obviously not nighttime. He's like, no, but I want, you accept this nighttime.
Speaker 1:He's like, well, the fact is clearly not nighttime. I can't accept that premise. And then he talks about money. He talks about the fact that like, okay, I'll buy something off you, and then you agree to the price. And then you find out the money's fake.
Speaker 1:Can you then accept that money for the product you're selling even though you know it's fake? You can't because you now know that thing is false. It is 100% false. I cannot accept that money. 100% is fake, but why not?
Speaker 1:So we have he explains this and you go deep into it. Like a lot of things we do, we think are right to a degree or we think it's a fact. Okay. That's how we work. It's important to realize that.
Speaker 1:Okay. This challenge isn't bad luck. It's a chance to show strength and character. That is a win. Another thing to adopt.
Speaker 1:Okay. Same stuff, different day. Whatever happens, humans have been dealing with it forever. You've seen this before, and you'll see it again. There's nothing new under the sun.
Speaker 1:Okay? Classic. We've covered that already, basically. Is this really worth getting upset about in the grand scheme? Like when I'm gone, will this even matter?
Speaker 1:No. Does it matter if you're three pounds lighter? Does it matter if you lose another five pounds? Oh, does it matter if you've a bit more muscle? Oh, does it matter if can run a mile more point five seconds quicker or one fucking minute quicker?
Speaker 1:This really matter? Or is what matters that whatever we're doing, the accumulation of our actions make us the best person we can be or at least to reveal our true self? Because the worst thing you can do and one of the regrets from people who are older age and you read these books about it and they say, what's wrong? What's what do you regret? They say, I regret not being myself enough, conforming to what people thought is good and bad and how I should have been.
Speaker 1:I should have just been myself more. Like, maybe our task in life is to reveal our true character and look at the character you build. Building a strong body or strengthening your body is part of this because it's gonna strengthen your character. Strengthening doing some exercise, doing physical exertion helps both physically and mentally. Learning to control, or not control, but to be aware.
Speaker 1:And through that awareness, we manage our emotions. This might reveal more of our true identity, our true self. There's topics on this. Our character. When you're on your deathbed and you look back and I was grim, but was I who I am?
Speaker 1:Really? Really? Or did I care too much about what people thought I should have done and I did every trend going for the last fifty years? Well, I was a trend person. You know?
Speaker 1:I just did the trendy thing. Well, well done. Well done. Well done indeed. Don't be one of those people.
Speaker 1:Okay. All those powerful people from the past, gone. That's the destiny we all share. So don't take your tell don't take yourself too seriously. Okay?
Speaker 1:Before judging someone else ask, what are they trying to do? What's their goal? And more importantly, what's mine? Cross examine yourself first before judging. Are you that pure yourself?
Speaker 1:No way. Absolutely not. Especially if you're listening to this podcast. No way. The world's always changing.
Speaker 1:What matters most is how you think about what's happening. Your mindset is your life. The cosmos is change. The universe is change. Life is opinion.
Speaker 1:That's the last one. I think the universe is change. It is a fact that nature is always changing. It's life and death. And it's in all of us, physically from our birth to our death.
Speaker 1:But also thoughts flower and die. Emotions flower and die. Goals flower and die. Everything flowers and sometimes we try and fight the rising wave instead of just being up and down with the wave. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:We're trying to fight the nature's things, and it doesn't work when you go against nature, because one on one with a big one, you're not going to win. You know, the farmer and the seed, classic one, I always say, flower doesn't grow overnight, you're not gonna change overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. You can start putting the right water and the right compost and all the conditions can be put right in one day. You can move towards that, but you can't grow fully one day, you know? For you to be the character, the person you've always meant to be, maybe you're there now, maybe you're not, maybe you're a few months and years away from really understanding it.
Speaker 1:It's also a lifelong journey, this personal development journey. You're always gonna it's gonna take time. You're gonna and it's not about just generally improving, improving, improving because when if we have that mindset, and I understand we need to improve our health, but it gets to a point where whenever the image we live up we want to be. Do know what mean? Sometimes you have to say, Where I am today, that's me, that's fine.
Speaker 1:I'm doing things, small things daily, and byproduct is there's gonna be benefits to this. But I'm not always chasing to be better all the time. I'm just doing the right thing today. It's tiny increments, And we don't want to be too far. We're to put this image of ourselves too far in the future, and too big and too grandiose because then you compare that to where you are now and you're going to feel down.
Speaker 1:So you're basically doing the comparison as a thief of joy on yourself when you think you should be, but that is the mistake we make. Anyway, that's the last one for today. Have a good day and speak to you also.