In this episode, I answer questions about Stoicism, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and emotional-resilience from Valentin Lehodey, a digital journalism student at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Highlights * What is Stoicism? * How Stoicism influenced cognitive therapy * Stoicism as a preventative resilience-building...

This is the audio of an interview I gave recently for Book Club with Kaiden Kelly, talking about How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, Verissimus, and Stoicism, self-help and modern psychology. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism:...

Donald discusses what Stoicism teaches us about anger and how it can actually help us in practice today. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Highlights * Why anger is a problem * What the Stoics say about anger * Ways in which Stoicism can help us manage anger * The benefits of learning to cope with anger Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This...

In this episode, I discuss and recite one of the most important philosophical speeches in history — the Great Discourse or Great Speech of the Sophist Protagoras, from Plato’s dialogue Protagoras. This speech contains some remarkable imagery and ideas, which clearly foreshadow many later ideas about social virtue and politics in Greek and Roman philosophy, from Socrates to the Stoics, and beyond. Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to...

In this episode, I chat with Anya Leonard. Anya is the founder and director of Classical Wisdom, a website and online community dedicated to bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds. She also recently published a children’s book about the ancient Greek poetess, called Sappho: The Lost Poetess. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Highlights * How Anya got into the...

This is my attempt to provide a short and simple introduction to Stoic practices, which anyone can begin using right away. It includes: * Brief introduction to Stoicism and dispelling the most common misconceptions * Two basic concepts: * The dichotomy of control * That it’s not things that upset us but rather our judgments about them * Three basic practices: * Objective description * Contemplating virtue and the double-standards strategy * The view from above Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way...

This podcast episode contains the audio recording from a conversation about Marcus Aurelius, and the history of Roman Carnuntum. I spoke with Eduard Pollhammer, the scientific director of the Carnuntum Archeological Park, at the Museum Carnuntinum in Austria. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks to Landessammlungen Niederösterreich, Archäologischer Park...

In this episode, I chat with Alexandra Hudson, writer, popular speaker, founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness and truth, and author of The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves, a forthcoming book from St. Martin’s Press. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Highlights * What...

NB: This episode contains a recording of a guided relaxation technique, which you should not listen to while driving. I created this recording for my psychotherapy clients, many years ago, but wanted to make it more widely available. It’s a short and simple exercise, about thirteen minutes in duration. This is the approach that I found to work best for the majority of people. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my...

Re-reading a newspaper article that I wrote at the start of the pandemic about how Marcus Aurelius used Stoicism, in the Meditations, to cope with the Antonine Plague. It struck me that, in part at least, the Meditations can be seen as Marcus’ notes to himself on coping with the psychological and moral challenges of the plague — or, if you like, as a manual for coping Stoically during a pandemic. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts...

This podcast episode contains the audio recording from a conversation about Marcus Aurelius, which I had with Markus Wachter, the CEO of the Carnuntum Archeological Park, at the Museum Carnuntinum, in 2019. I was visiting Austria for around a week, doing research for my books on Marcus Aurelius. The audio was recorded live in the main hall of the reconstructed Roman villa in the archeological park, hence the acoustics. Marcus stationed himself at the Roman legionary fortress of Carnuntum,...

In this episode, I chat with Massimo Pigliucci, Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, part of the team responsible for the Modern Stoicism organization, and author of several books on philosophy, including How to be a Stoic and, more recently, The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches us about Our Search for Good Leaders.   Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work,...

In this episode, I chat with Tim LeBon, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, research director for the Modern Stoicism organization, and author of Wise Therapy: Philosophy for Counsellors, Teach Yourself Positive Psychology, and more recently, 365 Ways to be More Stoic, edited by my wife .   Topics covered include… * How Tim first got into philosophical practice and Stoicism   * The relationship between Stoicism and CBT in general * Stoicism and third-wave CBT — recent advances * What Tim...

This is an audio recording of me explaining, and demonstrating, how to use a very simple but powerful psychological technique, which I call imaginal aphasia. It derives from an old hypnotic technique called hypnotic aphasia, and involves speaking (e.g., counting) aloud while gradually fading your voice to silence, and imagining that it’s becoming more and more of an effort to pronounce the syllables. You’re doing this both externally and internally, i.e., in your outward behaviour but also...

My wife, Kasey Robertson, writes under the pen name Kasey Pierce. I thought it would be pretty interesting to interview her about her writing. You can follow hernewsletter on Substack. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Links mentioned * Kasey’s Amazon author page * 365 Ways to be More Stoic (Harbinger) * Kasey on Medium * Kasey’s Twitter and Instagram Thank you for...

This is a new audio recording of an article I published on Medium about the Stoic contemplation of death. The photo shows me outside the ruined Temple of Hades at the ancient site of Eleusis near Athens. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

People keep asking me for advice about simple ways they can begin practicing Stoicism in daily life. This audio recording is based on my recent Medium article of the same name. It contains three basic Stoic strategies, which provide a good foundation for following Stoic philosophy in the modern world. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe