Modern Meditations - A Not-Boring Stoic Podcast

This week we explore the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Book 1, and in the words that Justin says at the book club that Bruce wasn't invited to, "What a Chapter!" We pull apart 11 different phrases from the first chapter of what we would like to be. We discuss the forgotten art of learning from the best in other people, and how to find joy in learning from other people's virtues. T

As part of our Meditations Series we are reading George Long's translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius in an Audiobook format. Next week we'll be back with our regular format to discuss themes from this chapter.

30 episodes in and we are finally ready to officially introduce you to Marcus Aurelius himself. In this episode we give you a bio of Marcus's life from beginning to end so that you can have a better understanding of who he was and why he wrote the Meditations. This episode kicks off "Meditations" series, where we will start by reading you a chapter from The Meditations and then on

The Equanimity Series comes to a close as Justin and Bruce discuss the "Final Remedy" that Seneca teaches his friend about-- Confidence. Marcus Aurelius' ascension to the throne and the tools he used to build confidence within himself in preparation for ruling Rome.After all the tools we have talked about for building equanimity, we talk about how to build confidence in our abiliti

We take a brief departure from our study of Equanimity to recap the celebration of the Stoic holiday (we invented) called "Aurelmas" and then introduce you to the world's (probably) first Stoic Rap. Special audio clips from Aurelmas are heard throughout to help feel what it would be like to throw a stone at a ship or to smash a mug into a bucket. The tantalizing sounds of the mugs

One of the most powerful tools in the Stoic arsenal for creating equanimity in our lives is understanding the difference between preferring something and being attached to it. In this episode we explore one of the great examples of this in history, namely Napoleon Bonaparte's temperament on his final exile to Saint Helena. (It will make you hear the song, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay

In this episode we get personal... We read through the beautiful poem called "True Love" by David Whyte and talk about the struggle that humans have with overcoming both our desires (what we are drawn to) and aversions (what we are repelled from.) We talk about how literal meditation can help us to see our aversions and desires more clearly and detach from them. We also go through

Hercules (not the Disney version) is faced with the choice between 2 Goddesses, but one is misleading him on the nature of pleasure. This story sets up the important things to be wary of when dealing with pleasure.Bruce recounts his experience at hippy camp and a tempting offer to join "The Festival of Yes." Though extremely tempted, he turns down this experience that targets the b

Fresh off of placing 6th at nationals in collegiate mountain biking athlete, coach and friend AJ Conover sat down with us to talk about his and Bruce's favorite subject and the object of their sport's lives: Pain. This episode is fun, informative and introduces our first lightening round where Justin and Bruce battle to get AJ to give them the answers they want, sincerely. We also

Have you ever seen Camelot? One of the most famous monologues from that play serves as a perfect backdrop for kicking off our series on Equanimity. In it King Arthur must wrestle with two parts of himself, the one that feels pain and outrage, and the other that demands justice. Which is a human struggle that we all go through as we travel through the ups and downs of life. In this