Episodes

The Stoics say Amor Fati, love your fate. Whatever will happen has already been planned already. How you respond to that action is all you can control.

We should always be asking ourselves as to what we are doing whether it be at the moment, with a task, with our lives, "is this necessary?" How much time is spent on things that are not necessary, that wastes our time, and takes away from living and being? Let's take this journey together.

In everything we do we must make beautiful choices. The choices we make not only define what we do, but who we are at that moment and for the future.

Decide to do one thing everyday, that is beneficial.

Marcus Aurelius' quote in Meditations: "The World is nothing but change. Our life is only perception." We are always changing, growing, learning. Are we the same person after that? Are we a brand new person, or are we the same person only wiser for having been through a certain event? I think we need to be fluid like the universe ever bending to the actions of the universe but strong enough to weather the storm and continue sailing on.

I am always careful with this rule, because people may take it the wrong way. But treating successes and failures the same way is important to understand. Never to high, never too low. Be grateful, happy, but understand that it won't last and we should be mindful of not letting external circumstances dictate our mindset or well being.

We all get sucked down the rabbit hole of imagined troubles causing anxiety, and depression. We need to be mindful of this.

Everyday can be a struggle to get anxious about everything, finance, jobs, family, health. But these things are not in our control. What is? Our reaction to these events. This is what we can control.

I feel it is really important to start the day off right, no matter how that is. We need to Own The Morning, in order to Win and Conquer the day.

I think failure is doing wrong when you know it’s wrong or you know you are doing wrong at that moment. I would tell my children and I still do, I can’t get angry at you when you do something wrong that you don’t know- because you don’t know that it’s wrong. BUT..If I teach you that it’s wrong and I teach you the right way and the right thing to do, but you do the wrong anyway…Well then there’s a problem.

We must try to remember that we are all part of the same community. We must think of the beehive, and not always of ourselves.

We work hard, we sacrifice we deserve some time off, a vacation, a little couch and TV time. But I also think that when we take that vacation, or take that day to breathe and step back we need to still be working on ourselves. Take a book with you, work on your mental health, learn some breathing exercises, a time out is always a good idea and needed. But as Seneca says, “leisure without study is death- a tomb for the living person.”

Marcus aurelius said “it isn’t manly to be enraged”. Yeah, easier said then done. He says “ rather gentleness and civility are more humane, and therefore manlier”. A real man doesn’t give way to rage and discontent. He is squared in his actions, tempered in his temperament and focused with his thoughts. He goes on to say “the nearer a man come to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength”.

Seneca says, “show me someone who isn’t a slave! One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to power , and all are slaves to fear. He goes on to say “No servitude is more abject than the self-imposed”. What it is in our daily lives that we think we can’t live without? What is it that we just have to. Have? What be calling us? I know for me most morning is that first piping hot cup of coffee, and some quite time of reading or writing it’s purely psycho-somatic, but I still feel somewhat ...

So, you may have seen my Daily Thoughts on Instagram, now I am bringing you my stoic journey. The 2000 year old philosophy that teaches us to focus on the things we can control—our thoughts, emotions, and actions—while accepting the things we cannot, such as the actions of others or the natural course of events going on in the world around us. My Stoic Journey are my interpretations on various stoic sayings from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and other philosophers. There is a great book by Ryan Holid...

Aristotle is credited with the quote: I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self. Today we ask the question and discuss how we measure sucess.

We all go through hard times, we all have moments of doubt, anger, and sometimes hopelessness. But how do we go on? How do we persevere through those hard times? Ryan Holiday of the Daily Stoic always tell the story of Admiral James Stockdale who was held captive in Hanoi, North Vietnam. He was sent to a war camp that was famous for its brutal treatment of prisoners. What got him through more than 7 years of imprisonment? Stoicism. Stoicism not only helped Stockdale get through his imprisonm...

The Stoics teach us Memento mori (remember you must die) we are mortal and this is what we must do but they also teach us memento vivere (remember we must live) remember to live your life, enjoy every moment, cherish your time here for it is destined to end. That is the nature of things, that is the will of the grand architect of life.

Welcome to Grey and Grounded, where we talk to men 50 and over..about being 50 and over. We talk family, friends, faith, money and more all in about 20 minutes. In our first episode we get jump right in and discuss how it is to be 50, our mentality, our changes, what is happening to our bodies and mind, and the things that help me cope with the constant change. Join me as we jump (carefully) into grown folk talk.