Stoic Week 2016

Stoic Week is nearly here! If you didn't know, Stoic Week is an annual international event that challenges participants to live stoically for a week. So the name is rather apt. This year the event runs from October 17th through the 23rd.

The primary way to participate in Stoic Week is through the online course. The lessons will sharpen your knowledge of the Stoic discipline and the forum offers stimulating conversation with fellow students. You also get the yearly Handbook, which gets better every year. I'm looking forward to downloading it as soon as it drops on the 10th.

There are other events happening as well. The best place to learn about such things are through the Stoicism Today blog. Perhaps there's a meet-up in your city? Or, if you're in New York, maybe you can attend Stoicon? We can get a beer afterwords. Or abstain. Whichever seems most Stoic at the time.

Take advantage of Stoic Week. The team at Stoicism Today do a great job running an informative and practical event. I suspect you'll get a lot out of it. I always do.

Stoic Week 2015 Supplemental

I hope Stoic Week is proving useful to you. I know I've already found multiple reasons to be glad I'm participating once again.

This supplemental is meant to pair relevant Immoderate Stoic articles and Good Fortune episodes with the themes found in the Stoic Week 2015 Handbook. This year's handbook takes a new approach to the daily themes, one that I am quite enjoying. You'll see that I only list content if I believe it matches the Stoic Week presentations. That's left a few gaps that aren't covered.

If you're looking for a way to keep centered on or expand your perspective of Stoic Week themes, I hope this helps.

Wishing you an indifferent Stoic Week,

Matt

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Central Stoic Ideas

• Stoic Emotions...All Three of Them, an article
• Citizen of the World, an article
• The Stoic Love of Community, published by Stoicism Today

Your Daily Routine

• How to Meet the Morning, an article
• A Stoic Start to the Day, a podcast
• A Stoic End to the Day, a podcast

Monday: Life

Tuesday: Control

• What We Control, a podcast
• Stoic in a Crowd, a video

Wednesday: Mindfulness

• Attention is Fundamental, a podcast

• Infernal Monologue: Fighting non-Stoic Thoughts, an article

Thursday: Virtue

Friday: Relationships

• When People Are Obstacles, a podcast
• How People Treat Jerks, both written and as a podcast
• 9 Ways to Stop Being Upset by Others, an article

Saturday: Resilience

• Handling Distressing News, a podcast
• When We Stumble, a podcast

Sunday: Nature

• Reverence for Existence, a article
• Two Quotes: Sagan & Seneca, an image and a quote

After Stoic Week

• Resources, a podcast

Stoicism Today covers Common Pitfalls for Inexpert Stoics

Stoicism is not the sort of philosophy that can be expressed in a few quotes. The ancient Stoics redefined common words, created new terms, and had an expectation that their students would study, study, and study some more before really absorbing the Stoic perspective.

Does this mean we can't benefit from a less rigorous approach to the Stoic philosophy? Not at all. Stoicism helps people. And yes, there are many succinct Stoic quotes that do get across their point very well. But for every, "People are not upset by things, but by their judgments about things," there's a line about your wife and child dying and how that shouldn't matter. I'm just saying that without some guidance, it's easy to stumble over Stoicism's complicated and sometimes quirky ideas.

Stoicism Today just posted, Common Pitfalls for Inexpert Stoics by Rymke Wiersma. It's a useful guide to, well, common pitfalls. If you are new to Stoicism, or simply want to make sure you haven't drifted of the path, this article is worth reviewing.