It's a Classical Life

  Welcome back to It's a Classical Life. We are now a week into 2024 and I hope that this year will bring you much fulfilment and happiness. I know this is the time for people to be making (and possibly breaking) their New Year's Resolutions  and it's common for these resolutions to be centred around our wellbeing, and perhaps the wellbeing of those around us.  Zeno - one of my favourite Stoic philosophers - reminds us, though, that wellbeing is realised by small steps. Small, easy steps that we can incorporate into our everyday as seamlessly as possible. He doesn't suggest that wellbeing comes from hours of sweating through hard workouts, intense meditation or yoga retreats, strict eating regimes or long therapy sessions. Small steps . Baby steps even. The contradiction, or paradox, lies in the second part of his quote. It is truly no small thing. If wellbeing is realised through small steps, then why does it still feel so elusive to so many people? Perhaps because ...

  Welcome back to  It's a Classical Life,  and if this is your first time here, welcome! Each week I try and post a little quote which I call Bitesize Inspiration. Other posts are usually longer, but these ones I try to keep short but inspiring. The idea is to take what you will from the quote, without my waffling on! I take inspiration from a wide range of sources, from classic writers, musicians, poets, philosophers, historians and more. This week, I have some  Stoic inspiration for you. The Stoics are one of my favourite sources for inspiration, as their beliefs and values continue to remain relevant and timeless.  In today's quote Epictetus gives us some fairly common sensical advice. However, I believe that common sense is lacking in many people's lives these days, so perhaps we could all do with being reminded of it more often! Persist and resist. Have the courage and perseverance to keep moving toward what is good, and the self-control and...

  How do you feel about non-fiction books? I love them. Covering a wide range of topics, in many different formats and lengths, I believe there is a non-fiction book for everyone. Generally, I prefer history or philosophy books, but can also be taken by art books, travel, spirituality, or anything really that grabs my interest! Sometimes a book will grab my interest and I'll read the whole thing, cover to cover. Other times a chapter here or an excerpt there is enough to This week I thought I would share with you the non-fiction books that are on my desk. These have all come from the library and have developed from a prior interest of mine.  The Top Five Regrets of the Dying ~ Bronnie Wa re I didn't get too far into this book before I started crying. Bronnie Ware is such a genuine, warm-hearted person and in this book she reflects on the time spent with people at the end of their lives in her role as a palliative carer. Even though she originally began with no f...

As we are fast approaching Christmas and all that holiday encompasses in our modern times, I thought it would be nice to remind ourselves of something important. I chose this particular quote, because try as we might, we may get caught up in the glitz and glamour of present giving and feel disappointed when we open those presents and see what is inside - or rather what isn't  inside. I know that many readers have recently celebrated Thanksgiving, which focuses heavily on gratitude but for those of us who don't celebrate it, this is also a nice time to be reminded of the things we have and for which we should be grateful.  Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher, which explains quite a bit about this particular quote. The beauty of the Stoic philosophers was that they came from very different backgrounds, bringing their own unique experiences and up-bringings into their philosophy. Epictetus, for example, was born a slave, whereas Marcus Aurelius was an emperor....