Weekly Quote: Seneca on Reviewing the Day

I've been banging the drum especially loud about journaling lately, and this week's quote from Seneca is another reason why. Journaling is a tool that can help you authentically review your life.

The idea of the daily review and its value has mostly stayed the same since Seneca walked the streets of Rome a few thousand years ago. Sure, your journal entry might seem different initially, but the concerns that occupy your mind are similar to what an ancient person worried about so long ago.

Journaling works best when you commit to honesty and are most willing to keep a "constant watch" over yourself. That may be made easier when there is no intention to share what you write with anyone. You do so much for the benefit of others. Journal for yourself.

Weekly Quote: Seneca on Delaying Your Anger

These ancient words from Seneca ask you to remember a foundational part of Stoic philosophy: delaying your reaction to anger offers a few moments to find the correct response. This action can bring clarity in the best cases and, at minimum, may allow you to quiet yourself and mute what could be an unreasoned response.

Try this. It takes practice and will only work some of the time. Yet, when it does, you will feel differently, like you’ve made less of a mistake, and that makes this effort worthwhile.


You can find Letters From a Stoic in both print and audio. Ryan Holiday’s The Lives of the Stoics is also an excellent resource to learn more about Seneca and the other Stoic philosophers.

Seneca’s Most Powerful Quotes From The Daily Stoic

The Daily Stoic has released a beautifully produced video featuring dozens of quotes from Seneca that I just spent the last five minutes enjoying. If you have a few quiet minutes, take a look. I’ll be sharing more from the Stoics in the coming months, so stay tuned.

Weekly Quote: Seneca on Finding Courage Through Hardship

This week's quote from Seneca is included as part of the chapter on adversity in The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth.

Ward has written an excellent book on Stoicism that I have quoted multiple times. I read this book slowly for the first time, taking lots of notes and highlights for future reference, and I am already rereading chapters and passages that can help me make sense of something happening.

It's been a challenging year, although none of what's happened is particularly remarkable or unique to my family, and it's all been manageable despite being exhausting and occasionally overwhelming. I know everyone goes through tough times, and I've been trying to learn from these experiences. Here are a few things that I'm figuring out that might help you too:

I Cannot Control Every Situation

I'm getting better at understanding more quickly when a situation is beyond my control. One of our children, who is now fully recovered, got sick and ended up in the hospital for a few days. I couldn't fix that. I could only be a participant in a bigger plan for recovery and stability for the entire family.

I Can be More Patient

I think I am a pretty patient person, and I am working on getting more tuned in to what it means to be a patient son, father, and husband. Different roles in my life need other things from me. Patience is universal, but there are nuances that I'm picking up on.

Creating Through Adversity Shuts the Resistance Down

I believe that adversity can spark creativity. Unfortunately, I've had very little time to create or write over the last several weeks, but the ideas are still coming and are meaningful to me. I've been feeling The Resistance a lot recently. Its presence encourages me that I am on the right path. I'm not giving up. I'm doubling down.

Building Courage is Worth Doing

I'm building my courage through practice. Living a rich life means that adversity will happen, and while it can be difficult, I feel more prepared to face what is next because of what I have already gone through.

How I Face Hardship Matters

Whether it's at work or home, someone is watching. I may struggle with a situation, but I can strive to have a measured and thoughtful response when it all goes wrong, or something scary happens. Essentially, the definition of being courageous.

Recognizing my Good Fortune Builds Endurance

I am deeply fortunate to have a healthy and happy family. We are coming closer because of these experiences, which is another gift of endurance I will gladly take as part of this journey.

Weekly Quote: Suffering our Imagination

This quote connects nicely with last week’s entry about focusing on what we can control. Our ability to tell ourselves stories about the future is powerful, and we usually use it to our detriment even though the worst-case scenarios rarely come to pass.

A context shift can help us deal with these runaway thoughts, especially the big, persistent narratives that just won’t go away. I find reading a book or listening to some new music helpful because it provides some distraction in a low-stakes way and gives my brain time to reflect and engage with the subject in a new way. Doing something a little different can help bring a fresh perspective to the situation, making all the difference and helping to reset things for the better.

How do you handle this? Let me know.