Johno1967

I was wondering how many people know about International Stoic Week and whether anyone here had signed up to "live like a Stoic for a Week".
I've began the week and finding it a nice and easy change. Its not that difficult after doing 12 step work for the last few years. The bonus is reading the classic Stoic works. The Stoics would have made excellent 12 Steppers.
There is a longer program that lasts 4 weeks. I've not had a great look at it but its CBT with a Stoic angle.
Stoic Week 2016 takes place from 17th to 23rd October
Stoicism Today: Home of Stoic Week

Fusion

Thank you Johno for bringing this to my attention. I also replied on the second secular site. I enrolled on the 'Live like a Stoic for a Week' course on Monday (not to combat alcohol addiction because I'm now recovered) but I've always admired quotes I've encountered from Marcus Aurelius, so that was a motivation.

Have you followed this week course previously and if so, did it benefit you?

Johno1967

Hi Tatsy,
No I haven't done the week before but to be honest what they suggest people do is very similar to what I do daily anyway but with a bit more structure and self discipline. For example as a 12 Stepper I usually give myself a moment of quiet time in the morning after doing my daily readings. I contemplate the day going forward and start making plans. I do a Step 3 and read the serenity prayer. The Stoic week program suggest a similar sort of thing thing. During the day I sometimes do spot checks on myself. The Stoic week recommends a midday activity based on the daily themes and self observation. In the evening, the reading and meditation and self assessment is similar to my daily Step 10 and 11. That's my daily practice and Stoic practice seems to reinforce it.
The idea of visualizing or contemplating bad outcomes or scenarios is something new to me. I used to do a lot but thought I was just being morbid, I was just doing it wrong. Also, starting a journal in the tradition of "Meditations" is also something I wish I had done in early recovery.
To be perfectly honest I hit upon the Stoic philosophers after hanging around Jedi Philosophy sites. In the real world Jedi community the works of Epictetus, Aurelius and Seneca are prescribed reading!
Hope you are enjoying it. I'm sorry there is no International Stoic events nearby I can go to. They have seminars and workshops running in US, UK, Europe and Australia.

paulmh

I think AA recovery segued pretty naturally into Stoicism for me. It's been a useful practical tradition and there's plenty more I can learn from it. Though I do avoid the "negative visualisation" thing - its at odds with my odaat approach. I think what Epictetus is trying to do there is help us to be better able to accept the truth of things as they are, but I think we can exercise that capacity - the capacity for honest acceptance - in other ways.

Zonckey

I think Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca have a lot to say in dealing with any kind of adversity by focusing on what we can control and what truly makes us happy.

I just got the Daily Stoic by Holiday. I have read Aurelius a couple times, and getting back to it now it is startling how certain ideas were startling in the past, but completely different ideas are startling now. Epictetus' golden sayings are amazing. I am now reading Epictetus' Discourses.

I think the originals are the most powerful. I've read others like Taleb and now Holiday, and they are good, but they seem to lack some of the wisdom that comes from living in a more real era before our current judgments of everything were solidified.