Shot of Philosophy
By Shot of Philosophy
Shot of PhilosophyMar 03, 2021
Ep. #124: Who do you admire? How do you educate yourself?
"it really matters who we admire, for celebrities influence our outlook, ideas and conduct. And bad heroes give glamour to flaws of character."
- Great Thinkers by The School of Life
Ep. #123: Perry Rizopoulos: Let's Connect On LinkedIn and Build some Confidence Today.
Some of my posts on LinkedIn are in line with some main themes of the podcast, let's connect!
Ep. #122: How do you make your daily spaces beautiful?
"Beauty can educate our souls. Plato sees art as therapeutic: it is the duty of poets and painters (and, nowadays, novelists, television producers and designers) to help us lead good lives."
- Great Thinkers by The School of Life
Ep. #121: What are the important parts of a loving relationship?
"In Plato's eyes, love is in essence a kind of education: you couldn't really love someone if you didn't want to be improved by them. Love should be two people trying to grow together- and helping each other to do so."
- Great Thinkers by The School of Life
Ep. #120: When do you think hard about things?
"Plato proposed that our lives go wrong in large part because we almost never give ourselves time to think carefully about logically about our plans."
- The School of Life
Ep.#119: Do you need to be happy?
Eudaimonia: "The peculiar but fascinating Greek word is a little hard to translate. It almost means 'happiness; but is really closer to 'fulfillment," because 'happiness' suggests continuous chirpiness- whereas 'fulfillment' is more compatible with periods of great pain and suffering- which seem to be an unavoidable part even of a good life."
- Great Thinkers by The School of Life
Ep. #118: When and how do you inspect yourself?
"... all the days of the past will come to your call: you can detain and inspect them at your will- something which the preoccupied have no time to do."
- Seneca
Ep. #117: When and why do you linger?
"Why do you linger? Why are you idle? If you don't grasp it first, it flees. And even if you do grasp it, it will still flee. So you must match time's swiftness with your speed in using it and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow."
- Seneca
Ep. #116: When will you be your happiest?
"The whole of the future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."
- Seneca
Ep. #115: When and how are you available?
"Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that."
- Seneca
Ep. #114: Do you take a vacation every day?
"When will vacation come? Everyone hustles their life along, and is troubled by a longing for the future and weariness of the present. But the person who spends all of their time on their own needs, who organizes every day as though it were their last, neither longs for nor fears the next day."
- Seneca
Ep. #113: When are you fully in the moment?
"Finally, it is generally agreed that no activity can be successfully pursued by an individual who is preoccupied- since the mind when distracted absorbs nothing deeply, but rejects everything which is, so to speak, crammed into it."
- Seneca
Ep. #111: What are your favorite hobbies?
We need activities that we do for our own sake and for their own sake.
Ep. #110: How do you protect your peace?
"If by chance they achieve some tranquility, just as a swell remains on the deep sea even after the wind has dropped, so they go on tossing about and never find rest from their desires."
- Seneca
Ep. #109: What are your goals this week?
"Many pursue no fixed goal, but are tossed about in every changing designs by a fickleness which is shifting, inconstant and never satisfied with itself. Some have no aims for their life's course, but death takes them unawares as they yawn languidly- so much so that I cannot doubt the truth of that oracular remark of the greatest of poets 'It is a small part of life we really live."
- Seneca
Ep. #108: How do you practice discipline? Who could you become with some more discipline?
"Fasting"
"Fast from thoughts, fast: thoughts are like the lion and the wild ass; people's hearts are the thickets they haunt. Fasting is the first principle of health; restraint is superior to medication; scratching only aggravates the itch. Fast, and behold the strength of the spirit."
Ep. #107: Do you protect your time?
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
- Seneca
Ep. #106: How do you recharge during the day? Do you make time for silence? Do you make time for doing "nothing?"
"...inertia recharges the mind."
- Rumi
Ep. #107: What prevents you from starting a new project or from pursuing a new goal?
"And of all your skills, and wealth and handicraft, weren't they first merely a thought and a quest?"
- Rumi
Ep. #106: How have you spent your life?
"How have you spent your life?"
- Rumi
Ep. #105: What do you listen to most frequently? How does this listening impact you?
"Life without music would be a mistake."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Ep. #104: Who are you becoming today?
"By God, don't linger in any spiritual benefit you have gained, but yearn for more- like someone whose thirst for water is never quenched."
- Rumi
Ep. #103: Do you feel bad about feeling bad?
"Joy is hidden beneath sorrow."
- Rumi
Ep. #102: Who are your mentors? How do you mentor others?
"If anybody goes traveling without a guide, every two days' journey becomes a journey of a hundred years."
- Rumi
Ep. #101: How do you handle pressure? Deadlines? Your own goals?
"At times I would say I had self-control. At times I felt like a prisoner of myself. All that's passed. I'm no longer captivated by myself. The lesson I took from all this: not to be taken by myself."
- Rumi
Ep. #100: How are you a rebel?
"What is a rebel? Someone who says no"
- Albert Camus
Ep. #099: Do you deal with decision fatigue?
"First thing in the morning, we should go over in advance what we have to do during the day, and decide on the ideas that will guide us."
- Epictetus
Ep. #098: When and how do you read?
"Books are training weights for the mind."
- Epictetus
Ep. #98: Whose opinion do you consider too much?
"Yes, keep on degrading yourself, soul. But soon your chance at dignity will be gone. Everyone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others."
- Marcus Aurelius
Ep. #97: Who are your mentors?
"Look into their minds, at what the wise do and what they don't"
- Marcus Aurelius
Ep. #096: Horizons and Habits and the Power of "This"
"Take care of this moment, this person, this challenge, this action."
-Epictetus
Ep. #095: How will you be paying attention today?
"15 minutes of attention is better than a great many good works."
- Simone Weil
Ep. #094: Have you started a self-writing practice?
"Paper is more patient than people."
- Anne Frank
Ep. #93: Why do you get angry?
"When anger rises, think of the consequences."
- Confucius
Ep. #92: Are you always in a rush?
Festina Lente: To rush, slowly.
Ep. #91: Are you pressured or playful?
"The sun is new each day."
-Heraclitus
Ep. #90: How do you help others? Help yourself?
"People exist for one another. You can instruct them or endure them."
- Marcus Aurelius
Ep. #089: Do you spend more time predicting the future or preparing for it?
"How often has the unexpected happened! How often has the expected never happened!"
- Seneca
Ep. #089: How do you use your imagination?
"... search for its hidden opportunity. It's a failure of imagination not to do so."
-Epictetus
Ep. #088: What are your happiness habits?
"..if you won't keep track of what your own soul's doing, how can you not be unhappy?"
- Marcus Aurelius
Ep. #087: What do you value?
"Look inward. Don't let the true nature or value of anything elude you."
- Marcus Aurelius
Ep. #086: What prevents you from doing the things you know you should be doing?
"Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter."
- Marcus Auerlius
Ep. #085 How do you pay attention?
"Thoughts committed to paper represent a record of our mind at its most attentive."
- The Socrates Express by Eric Weiner
What did you enjoy last week?
"We only like to count our troubles, but we do not count our joys."
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Ep.#083: How do you challenge your anxiety?
A great exercise inspired by Seneca from A Handbook for New Stoics by Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez.
Ep. #082: What can we learn from cows, dogs and donkeys about being less anxious?
Some thoughts from The School of Life, Friedrich Nietzsche, Seneca, Epictetus and Ryan Holiday on how to be less anxious.
Ep. #081: How can we relate to thoughts of the past, present and future?
Some insight from Seneca, Pierre Hadot and Marcus Aurelius along with a personal practice for living in the moment more attentively.
Ep. #080: What is essential for you today?
Some advice from Marcus Aurelius on what is essential for a good life.
Ep. #079: What are your spiritual reminders?
Some thoughts on planning a new summer philosophy class and the power of reminders in daily life.
Ep. #078: Do you ask for help?
Some advice from Marcus Aurelius on not being ashamed to ask for help.