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You have a fantasy, and you realize that acting out that fantasy would mean violating one or another of your values. You worry that the fantasy itself makes you a bad person, because of this. It does not. No thought, on its own, makes you a bad person. A fantasy is a story, and many stories can be safely enjoyed, even though acting them out would make you a bad person. The thing to watch for is this: that every fantasy carries a suggestion that maybe you could act it out – that maybe you want to have the thing, the person, the experience that is fantasized about. The test of acting ethically is not whether you have the fantasy, or even whether you enjoy thinking about it, but how you choose to act. Do you try to live out the fantasy, in whole or in part? Do you enjoy it as a story – alone or with someone you love? Or do you leave it where it is, there in your mind, as a pleasant distraction to be disregarded? As long as you remember that distinction – between having the thought and acting – then you can rely on your judgment to tell you how to deal with it. The power to act well remains yours, always. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

You have taken on a difficult responsibility; you have chosen a weighty task. It is unpleasant, uncomfortable. You find it difficult to carry on; you are dull and laggard in fulfilling the duty. This is because you are determined to only enjoy the absence of the duty - by looking forward to its end. But this is like trying to enjoy the summer in the middle of winter. If you practice despising your current lot and looking forward to what is not present, you will train yourself always to be unhappy with the present, and long for the future. Instead, attend to what is good about the winter. Enjoy the crystalline beauty of the snow; appreciate the patient resilience of the bare trees. Rejoice every day that you realize you can bear this duty, that you can carry it out well. Your job as a Stoic is not to suffer under the misfortune of burdensome duties; it is to shape yourself into a person who can clearly recognize your duties; who can cheerfully embrace your duties; who can carry out your duties without complaint; and who, as time passes, can adapt to your changing duties gracefully. Instead of trying to borrow enjoyment from an uncertain future, learn to enjoy the present. Do the task because it ought to be done; find ways to rejoice in the fact that you are doing what is needed. Train yourself to enjoy the present, and you will enjoy every moment of your life. That is the promise of truly embracing your responsibilities. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

You really don't feel like being sociable, but they are calling on you to join in, mingle, enjoy time together. As a social being, do you have a duty to join in? Or are you entitled to stay aloof just now, do your own thing? First, perceive the situation clearly. What are they asking of you? Are they demanding your participation? Or is that your own interpretation of what they are saying? Perhaps they just want you to know that you are welcome to join them if you like. How it seems is unimportant. Only their actual intent is relevant to your social duty. And that, ultimately, rests on indifferent grounds: what others think about you, how they judge your duties to yourself and others. What is this impulse to stay separate? Is it a passing fancy - an aversion that will evaporate once you are actually engaged in the group? Or does it signal a deeper need - for solitude, for quiet, for your own uninterrupted company? If it's a passing fancy, then by all means join in. Ignore the irrational aversion, so that it may be weaker next time and you may be stronger. If it's a deeper need, then you may be justified in following it - but remember that this does not require you to be snappy or rude. Simply excuse yourself without ceremony or debate, and seek your own space. You do have a duty to participate in the social side of life. Sometimes, this may mean stretching beyond your normal inclination for social engagement. Exerting yourself. Stepping out of your comfort zone. But you also have a duty to see to your own well-being, physical and mental. Sometimes this may mean leaving others to entertain each other while you engage in some solitary activity. It is up to you to decide what is needed right now, without giving undue weight either to the perceived demands of others or to your own introverted tendencies. Is the duty of this moment more on the social side or the self-care side? This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

You're part of a group, and the group has made a decision that you disagree with. The decision is made, yet you continue to fret. Did you share with the group all your reasons for preferring the other option? Then you have done what you can, and should be satisfied. Did you fail to share all of your reasons? Then you have learned the consequences of that choice, and are determined to do better next time. You are doing what you can, and should be satisfied. Is there a chance you were wrong? Then you can look into it, reassess the truth of the matter, and work out what to do next. You will do what you can, and should be satisfied. Do others criticize you personally for opposing the chosen option? If they are right, reform yourself and you should be satisfied. If they are wrong, the problem is theirs. Let them see to it or not - it is nothing to you. You should be satisfied. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

You know the challenge is coming. Have you prepared? Have you done what you can? Then you have done your duty for now. Set it aside, and deal with the other things before you. Is there some preparation yet to do? Then do it, not with the goal of making the work easier, but with the goal of making yourself better, preparing yourself for what is coming, and for what may come after that. Don't dwell morosely on unpleasant possibilities. Find a way to avoid them, or accept that they are unavoidable and move on. Don't idly rehearse what you have already mastered. Work on what needs work. Improve what needs improving. Remember that your power right now is over what you do right now, not over what you will do tomorrow. So spend your energy on this moment's task. You may do this with tomorrow in mind; just don't let thoughts of tomorrow pull you completely away from today. The only time you can lose is the present moment. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

Every day is a grain of sand in the hourglass of my life. Those in the bottom are already in the hands of Death. Those in the top - if any even remain - are unknown to me: their character and their number. Only the single grain passing through the neck right now - today, this very moment - is before me. And that grain, with all its lessons, all the choices I may make, I see dimly. Will I see tomorrow's grain (if it comes) even more dimly, or will it be clearer? My first and most important choice right now is to begin to train myself, to improve my perception, to improve my capacity to improve my perception. To nurture virtue and set aside vice. Because, if I am granted time, sooner or later my strength will fail, my mind will weaken, and I will lose the ability to improve my perceptions and my character. Every jot of effort I exert now to improve myself will put off that eventual weakness - maybe so that I may die before it comes; but if not, at least so that I may have one more year, one more day, one more hour of clarity. I fear that loss. If I were a sage, maybe I would fear it more than death. No matter. It is out of my hands. What I have is today's grain of sand, today's moment in time. Will I give myself today the best that is in me? When today's grain tumbles down to Death's collection, will I be leaving to Death another speck of mundane, of adequate, of I-was-waiting-for-the-right-time-to-start-being-my-best-self? Or will Death receive from me, at the end of this day, a grain of diamond, of glory and effort that will light up the whole damned pile of spent days? Let's see ... This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

 When you are away from your accustomed places, when you are apart from the people you normally interact with, when the regular tasks are not before you, you can feel unmoored. You can drift from the good habits you have accumulated. The problem is that we like to anchor ourselves in externals: in the people, places, and tasks of our daily routine. But those are externals. However beloved, they are all ephemeral. We can lose them – for a day, for a week, forever. And they do not make us good. If they did, we would not be as confused and distressed when they leave us. If you were a sage, you would say that you are indifferent to these externals, and let them go as easily as you let go of the peel once you have eaten the banana. You are not a sage yet, though. So perhaps you use externals to help develop your good habits. Some day you will do without those externals, but you are not there yet. Fine. Remember that some externals are more ephemeral than others. Have some habits of character that you can bring with you anywhere, and that you can undertake with or without your normal companions: an early alarm, a cold shower, meditations in a book or podcast. Then you need only pack your phone, to be your alarm, to hold the meditations. You need only be near a shower (or whatever else you use to practice your physical discipline). Do always remember the goal: to be free from dependence on externals. With each habit, work to make it internal. Every day, strive to become your own anchor – especially in the habits that are most important to your character. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

The virtuous life can sometimes seem far away - a path available only to those who are already wise, or those who have plenty of spare time to seek it. But it is not a path, to first find and then follow. The virtuous life is a direction. Face it. Feel the sun on your face. Now move forward, one step at a time. See the horizon? There lives the sage. But every step you take in that direction is a step in your virtuous life. Have you wandered? Do you feel that you have gone astray? Turn now to the warmth of the sun, and resume your journey. It is within your reach this very moment. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

It feels like you do not have the power within yourself to make the right choice. You know that you should do that, but habit, or convenience, or fear make this choice more more appealing, more compelling. It feels like you don't have the strength to choose right. But you know someone who would choose right in this situation. It's a friend, a spouse, a family member, a colleague - maybe even someone from fiction or from history. That person is your sage, at least for this choice before you. You know how they would choose, and you would like to choose the same. So borrow their strength in this moment. ... This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

You have control over your decisions. You are the ruling faculty. This podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It can be found at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message

This podcast contains meditations on Stoic themes, to help overcome the obstacles we put in our own way as we seek to live well. I offer them not as an expert in either meditation or Stoicism, but as someone who wants such meditation prompts for myself and can't find exactly what I want anywhere else. If it is of use to anyone else, grand. You can listen to these meditations, you can take the script in the show notes and record your own meditation prompts. All content is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Music is from the track "Which That is This" by Doctor Turtle, also distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The link is http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Jonahs_Message_for_New_York/Which_That_Is_This If you use these recordings, I hope you find them helpful in building the Stoic character you seek to build. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stoic-prompts/message