Stoicism has become popular again. Yet nobody really knows what itâs all about. Just like an old reliable walking stick, itâs a guide to life-based on reason rather than faith that supports you in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom. Despite the philosophyâs age, dating back to Marcus Aurelius, its invaluable tools to excel in life feel modern and fresh.
By adopting Stoicism as a way of life, youâll discover that philosophy is built for action, not endless head scratching. Itâs a lifelong path to resilience, confidence, and calmness â essential skills to thrive no matter what life throws at you.
In Jonas Salzgeberâs new book, The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness, he introduces the ready-to-use mix of timeless wisdom and empowering advice that will point the way to anyone seeking a calm and wise life.
A Modern Approach to Ancient Philosophy
The Little Book of Stoicism makes Stoic philosophy easy and actionable in the demanding modern world. You get what youâd expect from a Swiss author: a clear, comprehensive, and concise distillation of this exemplary philosophy.
Stoicism helps you deal more effectively with lifeâs challenges and supports you in living up to your potential. Salzgeber neatly structured his book in two parts. The first part tells you what the goal of Stoicism is and what youâll get out of it, who its main philosophers were, and on the basis of the Stoic Happiness Triangle, the author created, how you will achieve such calm and resilient life.
The second part is all about putting the ancient wisdom from the book page into action in the real world. You find 55 Stoic practices for everyday living. Itâs incredible how many useful mindsets the Stoics developed. Theyâre super easy to read, you can use whichever you find help you most, and you can always go back for more goodness to keep on improving your personal life.
The Stoic Happiness Triangle
At the center of the triangle is Eudaimoniaâthe ultimate goal of life all ancient philosophies agreed on. This is the main promise of Stoic philosophy and itâs about living a supremely happy and smoothly flowing life. Itâs about thriving in our lives.
In the first corner, we find Live with AretĂ©. This is about expressing your highest self in every moment. If you want to be on good terms with your highest self, you need to close the gap between what youâre capable of and what youâre actually doing.
In the second corner, we find Focus on What You Control. This is the most prominent principle in Stoicism. At all times, we need to focus on the things we control and take the rest as it happens. Whatâs important for your own flourishing is what you choose to do with the given external circumstances.
In the third corner, we find Take Responsibility. Youâre responsible for your life because every external event offers an area you control, namely how you choose to respond to this event. Itâs not events that make us happy or miserable, but our interpretation of those events.
This Stoic Happiness Triangle aims to break down the philosophy in a simple way so everybody is able to understand the philosophyâs main principles. Salzgeber explains each point in way more detail with lively analogies and quotidian examples. You really learn what Stoicism is all about in this part.
My Favorite Stoic Practices
Before the author dives into the practices, he helps the reader prepare. He says awareness and self-discipline are often necessary to put the practices into action. Because if we cannot observe our thoughts and actions, and if we donât have the necessary self-discipline, how do we want to change and integrate new mindsets?
There are too many practices to adopt right away. And some I already use in my own life. In simple, these mindsets help you stay calmer when life punches you in the face, express what youâre actually capable of more often, and gain confidence on the way.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Become an eternal student â He shares this wonderful quote by Seneca: âLeisure without study is death â a tomb for the living person.â As you know, Iâm all about getting better and reading books. We shouldnât just leave the remnants of time for learning, but actually, create time for it. Thatâs how we grow.
- Choose courage and calm over anger â I quote from the book: âAnger, the desire to repay suffering, is brief madness, says Seneca. Because an angry man lacks self-control, is forgetful of kinship, is deaf to reason and advice, gets aroused by trifles, and doesnât know whatâs true and false â much like a falling rock which breaks itself to pieces upon the very thing which it crushes.â
- The Equanimity Game â I love this idea. We all get caught off guard sometimes, we make mistakes and act like jerks. The question is: How fast can we get back up? Donât feel sorry for yourself, just dust yourself off and get back on track.
- Buy tranquility whenever possible â âStarting with things of little valueâa bit of spilled oil, a little stolen wineârepeat to yourself: âFor such a small price I buy tranquility and peace of mind.â This quote by Epictetus is just wonderful. We often get irritated by trifles. But it doesnât need to be this way. If weâre aware enough, we can take a deep breath and move on without any reaction.
- Lead by example â Letâs lead with our actions instead of lectures. Do what you think is right. You read the book and agree with so many ideas, but thereâs the danger that you donât actually live them out. You might tell your friends about it, but donât really do it. Show, donât tell. This is what I firmly believe in.
Now of course, the above is only a tiny fraction of the book. Hopefully, it gives you an idea of what the book is about. The book could have well been called The Book of Stoicism, but I guess thatâs simply a worse title.
The Little Book of Stoicism is packed with illustrations and practices that will show you how to deal more effectively with lifeâs challenges. Salzgeberâs engaging and easy-to-follow explanations of the timeless Stoic advice will help you flourish in todayâs demanding world.
What do you think? Could you use some guidance and inspiration to live up to what youâre truly capable of? I surely took away many great insights from this wonderful book.