01 APR 2025 by ideonexus
Keep the Virtues of Others in Focus for Your Own Positivity
When thou wishest to delight thyself, think of the virtues of those who live with thee; for instance, the activity of one, and the modesty of another, and the liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a fourth. For nothing delights so much as the examples of the virtues, when they are exhibited in the morals of those who live with us and present themselves in abundance, as far as is possible. Wherefore we must keep them before us. 1 
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notes31 MAR 2025 by ideonexus
On Balancing Work and Rest
In he morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spid... 1 notes
notes31 MAR 2025 by ideonexus
Do Not Spend Time Concerned About the Actions of Others
Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others, when thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some object of common utility. For thou losest the opportunity of doing something else when thou hast such thoughts as these, What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he saying, and what is he thinking of, and what is he contriving, and whatever else of the kind makes us wander away from the observation of our own ruling power. We ought then to check in the series of our thoughts... 1 notes
notes07 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
Prosochē - Stoic Version of Mindfulness
Prosochē (προσοχή) [pro-soh-KHAY]—the attitude and practice of attention—is the fundamental Stoic spiritual attitude.1 It is a state of continuous, vigilant, and unrelenting attentiveness to oneself—the present impressions, present desires, and present actions which shape one's moral character (prohairesis).2
When you relax your attention for a while, do not fancy you will recover it whenever you please; but remember this, that because of your fault of today your affairs must ...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
1 07 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
What is Prosochē?
The brief definition offered above provides some insight into the Stoic concept of prosochē; however, I do not think it draws out its full meaning and richness. My own understanding of the concept was furthered by the following descriptions of prosochē from various authors:
A “fundamental attitude” of “continuous attention, which means constant tension and consciousness, as well as vigilance exercised at every moment.”
Being “perfectly aware not only of what [one] is doing, but ...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
07 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
Aurelius Quotes on Mindfulness
2.8 Rarely is a person seen to be in a bad way because he has failed to attend to what is happening in someone else’s soul, but those who fail to pay careful attention to the motions of their own souls are bound to be in a wretched state.
2.11 Let your every action, word, and thought be those of one who could depart from life at any moment.
3.4 Do not waste what remains of your life in forming impressions about others, unless you are doing so with reference to the common good. For you are...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
07 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
Prohairesis
Prohairesis or proairesis (Ancient Greek: προαίρεσις; variously translated as "moral character", "will", "volition", "choice", "intention", or "moral choice"[1]) is a fundamental concept in the Stoic philosophy of Epictetus. It represents the choice involved in giving or withholding assent to impressions (phantasiai). The use of this Greek word was first introduced into philosophy by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics.[2] To Epictetus, it is the faculty that distinguish...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
01 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
Live the Present
—Estoy vivo —dijo al muchacho mientras comía un plato de dátiles en la noche sin hogueras ni luna—. Mientras estoy comiendo, no hago nada más que comer. Si estuviera caminando, me limitaría a caminar. Si tengo que luchar, será un día tan bueno para morir como cualquier otro.
»Porque no vivo ni en mi pasado ni en mi futuro. Tengo sólo el presente, y eso es lo único que me interesa. Si puedes permanecer siempre en el presente serás un hombre feliz. Percibirás que en el desiert...Folksonomies: mindfulness
Folksonomies: mindfulness
"I'm alive," he said to the boy while he ate a plate of dates on the night without bonfires or moon. While I'm eating, I don't do anything but eat. If I were walking, I would just walk. If I have to fight, it will be as good a day to die as any.
»Because I do not live in my past or in my future. I only have the present, and that is the only thing that interests me. If you can always stay in the present you will be a happy man. You will perceive that life exists in the desert, that the sky has stars, and that warriors fight because this is partof the human race. Life will be a party, a great festival, because it is only the moment we are living.
23 SEP 2023 by ideonexus
This is Real
This is real. Your eyes reading this text, your hands, your breath, the time of day, the place where you are reading this—these things are real. I’m real too. I am not an avatar, a set of preferences, or some smooth cognitive force; I’m lumpy and porous, I’m an animal, I hurt sometimes, and I’m different one day to the next. I hear, see, and smell things in a world where others also hear, see, and smell me. And it takes a break to remember that: a break to d...Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
Folksonomies: attention mindfulness
23 SEP 2023 by ideonexus
I and Thou Thinking
In his 1923 book I and Thou, the philosopher Martin Buber draws a distinction between what he calls I-It and I-Thou ways of seeing. In I-It, the other (a thing or a person) is an “it†that exists only as an instrument or means to an end, something to be appropriated by the “I.†A person who only knows I-It will never encounter anything outside himself because he does not truly “encounter.†Buber writes that such a person “only knows the feverish world...Folksonomies: mindfulness
Folksonomies: mindfulness
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