Reddit Reddit reviews Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide

We found 20 Reddit comments about Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Books
Self-Help
Happiness Self-Help
Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide
McGraw-Hill
Check price on Amazon

20 Reddit comments about Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide:

u/runeaway · 20 pointsr/Stoicism

> I feel like I don't stand for anything, I don't have an identity I feel confident in.

That requires a lot of self-reflection, thinking about what you value and how/if you act according to those values.

> the person I was in high school seems alien to me now.

In a few years, you're probably going to feel the same way about the you right now.

> in the age of social media it feels like everyone's eyes are on me

Most people are too concerned with what other people think about them to spend much time thinking about you.

> I can't control what they think of me

It's good that you realize that.

> but I can't help but feel like most see me as a goofy, disinterested nice guy

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. There's no way for you to know what other people think about you. Even if they say they think you're goofy, there's no way to know if they're telling the truth. If you choose to believe everyone else thinks you're goofy, you can do that, but it's a choice you've decided to make. Your time is better spent trying to be the sort of person you want to be than on worrying about what other people think of you.

> When I push away those fears I instead become an asshole and don't think before I speak.

That's another choice you make. No one forces you to speak without thinking. No one forces you to act like an asshole. If you want to be a kind, virtuous person, that's in your control.

> I've read Meditation and checked out the sidebar on the topics but I'm having trouble implementing the ideas into my daily life

We generally advise that new people do not start with Meditations, as it wasn't intended as an entry point to Stoicism. It's the working journal of an advanced student, and Marcus assumes the reader is already familiar with all of the concepts.

Here's a short list of recommended places to start:

  • Stoicism and the Art of Happiness by Donald Robertson is a practical introduction on what Stoicism is and how to implement it in your life.


  • Epictetus - Discourses, Fragments, Handbook translated by Robin Hard is a book containing the lectures of the Stoic teacher Epictetus. Marcus Aurelius studied Epictetus specifically and quotes him several times in Meditations.

  • Seneca's Dialogues and Essays, especially the essays "On The Shortness of Life" and "On the Happy Life" and Letters from a Stoic contain Seneca's useful writings on a number of topics and is another popular place to begin learning about Stoicism.
u/rob_cornelius · 20 pointsr/EOOD

Judging yourself by your perception of other peoples "standards" of living is always a route to the place where you are now. No one is perfect and the people who appear perfect are just hiding their fuck ups that tiny little bit better.

The only things in the world you can control are your own thoughts and responses to events. Everything else you have no control over. You can't even stop your body getting unwell. That probably sounds scary but its incredibly liberating as it means that if you can't control something you don't have to let it concern you.

Someone has bigger muscles than you? You can't control that so why bother about it. You can be glad for them and admire the hard work they have put in to get there but there is no reason for you to feel bad about yourself as your muscles are smaller. Someone is "funnier" than you? Watch and learn from them but don't bring yourself down that you can't be as funny.

If you have gone through CBT or DBT (Cognitive or Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) this will be very familiar to you. Take a look at this book Stoicism and the Art of Happiness for an easy introduction into all this.

You can change the way you think with effort. You can become a better person with effort. It's not easy but you have plenty of time, the rest of your life.

Finally.... if you are currently not getting any medical help for your mental health please go and see your GP. They will sort out something for you. If you are in a really bad place then call the Samaritans on 116 123 as you are in the UK.

u/GreyFreeman · 12 pointsr/Stoicism

I consider "Stoicism and the Art of Happiness" to be a pretty straightforward read, and the "Resources" section of our excellent faq has a few more suggestions.

u/IronWoobie · 9 pointsr/Stoicism

Stoicism and the Art of Happiness has many exercises, which is written by our own /u/SolutionsCBT. Stoic Spiritual Exercises attempts to re-construct specific meditative practices as well.

u/Astartes_Pius · 9 pointsr/Stoicism

I think, your past failures are not in your control. So, they are not bad nor good. You can only practice virtues and vices in the here and now. "That is my past, not me in this moment."

I think the journaling has only a limited effect, because we need to see that specific moment in an other aspect than our vice-blurred-vision. I think a very short, concise "error-log", or "debugger's journal" at the end of the day can help. With points like this:

  • I ate too much for lunch, so I couldn't concentrate afternoon.

    And after awakening you can read these practical experiences during your morning meditation.

    You can use self-help CBT books to correct your behavior. Just remember, only the wise person/Sage is truly in control of his behavior. I think most of vices are in our lives in the form of bad habits, and not because we are evil or intrinsically bad persons. I have many bad habits / vices and not because I am bad. I am working on them for years, because they are "habits". Stoicism is about reclaiming out brain. And in this century we know so much more about our brain, and our unconscious behaviour, than our ancient ancestors. I think Don. Robertson's book has a very good aspect about the modern day's applied philosophy (he is an experienced therapist.)
    http://www.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104

    Btw.: I know very well this kind of self-judgement. This is the main ingredient of the laziness which has a fancier name: procrastination. It is my life-long vice too. Even my first readings of the Stoics was some sort of procrastination, but they are always sending me back to my study with harsh words :D :D

    But I think it is a far more specific problem which has a very good literature:

    http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

    http://www.amazon.ca/Solving-Procrastination-Puzzle-Concise-Strategies/dp/0399168125



    (edit. a couple addition...)
u/Sennmeistr · 9 pointsr/Stoicism

>Combatting depression

Quoting a recent comment of mine:

>You might want to look into cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), if that isn't what you already did.

>Recommended books:
The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and
Unshakeable Freedom.


>Also: Recommended Post.

 
>Philosophy and Stoicism

Apart from the Enchiridion and the Meditations, the primary reading list includes letters and essays from Seneca as well as Cicero or the fragments from Musonius Rufus. Modern books include How to be a Stoic, A guide to the good life and Stoicism and the art of happiness. The FAQ has a nice list which is worth checking out.

>Books about changing the way you think (false thoughts vs. truths)

This might not be Stoic, but you might be interested in Thinking fast and slow.

>Identity

Might not be exactly what you were looking for, but reading The mind illuminated and implementing meditation as a practice, changed the way I think about myself and my thoughts on a daily basis.

>The ego

A favourite of mine is the eight page-long article by urbanmonk.

A good starting point for thought provoking and self-help books is the sub /r/BettermentBookClub. If you search for thought provoking articles, /r/Foodforthought or /r/philosophy is the way to go.

u/TinkleThief · 8 pointsr/seduction

"Just stop giving a fuck" is something that gets parroted around here quite a bit. It's not bad advice, but it's a bit like telling someone who aspires to be a guitarist to just start learning guitar. It's not wrong, but it's not very useful advice on it's own.

In the context of seduction, not giving a fuck really boils down to not caring about the outcome of a given interaction, or overcoming the fear of rejection. If you think about it, if you didn't fear rejection, picking up women would be a walk in the park.

So yeah, it sounds great, but it's not something you can just decide to start doing on a whim. The fear of rejection is pretty deeply rooted in a lot of guy's minds, and the usual way to get over it is by doing. Going out there, hitting on women, getting rejected, and going through a lot of pain and discomfort.

Another option is to adopt a philosophy at a core level. That is, adopting the core belief that shit like picking up women is insignificant compared to some other big belief you have, be it spiritual or otherwise. For example, believing that your existence is a result of endless random things going perfectly right, and the very fact that you're alive is a god damn fucking miracle. You live your life in fucking AWE, thankful for every moment that you're able to breathe air and live a life. If you adopt this at a core, fundamental level in your mind, you open yourself up to endless joy, bliss, happiness, and you better believe that being rejected by a woman won't faze you in the slightest.

Obviously it takes time to get to that point, but that's essentially the philosophy of Stoicism for you. There are exercises (much like meditation, which in it's own right is extremely useful for not giving a fuck) that will help bring you to that point. If you're interested in the stoic philosophy, I would be happy to recommend some great books. This is seriously life-changing stuff, but it's not something that happens overnight.

Edit: Here are a couple great books to get started with:

  • Stoicism And The Art of Happiness

  • A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

    I recommend reading those in order (Art of happiness first). It is a fantastic introduction and high-level overview of stoicism and introduces you to some exercises to start adopting the philosophy. A guide to the good life is also a beautiful book, but gives you a lot more history on stoicism, which isn't necessarily required, but it's extremely interesting and gives you a lot more context to the subject material.
u/cleomedes · 6 pointsr/Stoicism

> I am sure that this question pops up frequently.

Indeed it does, so it is in the FAQ.

Edit:

I have an abbreviated version here. The longer version in the FAQ is better, though.

quoting it (the abbreviated version) for the lazy:

> Good options are:
>
> The Enchiridion of Epictetus is short and easy to read. It was written as a "cheat sheet" of sorts for Epictetus's Discourses, reading the Discourses as well can be very helpful for clarifying what is being said.
>
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, a personal journal. There are several out-of-copyright translations online, none of which are very good. Hard and Hays both have much better translations popular with readers here.
> Selected essays and letters by Seneca the Younger, particularly De Tranquillitate (On Tranquility of Mind) and De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life).
Moses Hadas's [
The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca](http://openlibrary.org/books/OL13549785M/The_stoic_philosophy_of_Seneca) is a good printed source for these and other writing by Seneca.
>
De Officiis (On Duties) by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
>
> Recommended modern accounts include The Stoics: A Guide for the Perplexed by Andrew Holowchak and A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine. The later is notable for being popular, easy to read, and controversial; some (including myself) find that he departs significantly from several fundamental elements of Stoicism (see here and here).
>
> I think any of these can be a good starting point, and any of them can be valuable on its own, but each only offers a partial glimpse of Stoicism as a whole.
>
> Most of the ancient sources above are good for browsing, picking random pages and reading a little bit here and there. Each has its own distinct character. A good approach may be to find copies of the Enchiridion, Meditations, and a selections of Seneca, and spend a little time browsing through each, and then focusing on the one that appeals most. Then, pursue supporting material to help give context, unpack references, and otherwise improve interpretation. For the Enchiridion, the best source for this would be the Discourses, and Long's Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life is also helpful, in different ways. For the Meditations, Stephens' Marcus Aurelius does a good job of explaining context, references, and interpretation.


Edit 2: This book, more recent than the FAQ, is also with reading, and the author posts here sometimes.

u/SolutionsCBT · 5 pointsr/Stoicism

Hi, I'm the author. I'm glad you like the book. As someone mentioned, it's an academic text that focuses on the historical context and the relationship between Stoic practice and modern CBT, rather than a self-help guide. I've just written another book, due out soon, called Teach Yourself Stoicism and the Art of Happiness, published by Hodder. It's a completely different type of book, which is much more aimed at describing Stoicism in terms of practical exercises that modern readers can follow.

http://www.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Don-Robertson/dp/1444187104/

u/fouljabber · 4 pointsr/Stoicism

> I like to think of tranquility as the base from which everything else is built. Is that wrong to think of it that way?

That seems to be in accordance to reason and the surviving Stoic works. Have you looked through the FAQ. The FAQ has recommendations for readings and Stoic exercises.

In case you or anyone else reading this wants advice about learning Stoicism, I am just going to throw about my personal recommendations. I don't think that the Meditations is a good resource to start with, because Marcus isn't exactly explaining his bold statements. I think that Donald Robertson's Stoicism and the Art of Happiness, Andrew Holowchak's The Stoics: A Guide for the Perplexed (I'm currently working through this right now to fill in gaps in my knowledge) would be better resources for a beginner, because these books interpret ancient texts and present their interpretation in a digestible form. If you want to improve retention of the information, I suggest creating concise flashcards and then loading these flash cards into anki.

Stoicism involves practice a lot of practice as well. You may have the knowledge, but constantly applying the knowledge is very difficult. Create an exercise based on the knowledge that you have read from a section of the previous text and then do this exercise daily, or you could choose an exercise from the FAQ. Either way, consistent daily practice is the key.

u/StoneChimes · 4 pointsr/Stoicism

I recommend starting with a modern work, such as Donald Robertson's Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide. Once you have the basics down, you can dig into the classics with less chance of misunderstanding.

The [Stoic Week 2014 Handbook] (https://ukcognitive.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/stoic_week_2014_handbook.pdf) is a good, shorter introduction, as is the [FAQ] (http://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/wiki/faq) for this subreddit.

The Meditations is a classic, but it will be hard to know what the hell he's talking about without some background.

u/FuckyouAvast · 4 pointsr/TheRedPill

This is a good intro to Stoicism that I would recommend before reading Meditations.

u/StoicBeCuZ · 3 pointsr/Stoicism

SENECA by a mile, or Robertson's 'teach yourself' book on
Stoicism: http://www.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Relationships-Self-Help/dp/1444187104

u/Eric_HOFmer · 3 pointsr/askphilosophy

Massimo Pigliucci is a big part of the resurgence of Stoicism, along with Donald Robertson.

Massimo wrote a book entitled How to Be a Stoic available here:

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Be-Stoic-Ancient-Philosophy/dp/0465097952/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8&sa-no-redirect=1

Donald wrote a book called Stoicism and the Art of Happiness available here: https://smile.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3SXSFTKVEAPPFGRZA2GN

I myself have spent a lot of time in Stoicism and have enjoyed it tremendously. I'm truthfully moving a bit away from it more towards Epicureanism and Buddhism, but it has served me well in every way.

If you'd like more resources let me know. Feel free to message me any time.

u/illegalUturn · 3 pointsr/Stoicism

Hi /u/mcnelton - I hope you read this comment because none of the so far suggested books come from an academic approach.

I would recommend the (perhaps poorly titled) Stoicism and the Art of Happiness by Donald Robertson.

It's extremely well sourced and references a significant number of modern of academic and psychology texts as well as ancient ones. Each section contains practical exercises, and the book covers the whole historical context as well as the modern development of psychology treatments such as REBT and CBT which are based on the Stoic tradition.

If you want to take a step further in the academic direction but away from the practical, I would recommend the truly excellent Stoicism by John Sellars.

u/Surtinerfe · 2 pointsr/Stoicism

https://www.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
This is the first book i read on stoicism and it did the trick for me. I'm not saying is the best but it works.

u/megazver · 2 pointsr/AskMen

With philosophy, it's often a good idea to read a modern author's summary and explanation first, instead of going straight for the source material.

I recommend you read A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph or Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide and see if you want to move on to the actual Stoics.

That said, Stoicism is one of the most useful and applicable schools of philosophy and well worth educating yourself about, even if you're not that interested in philosophy in general.

u/miyatarama · 2 pointsr/Stoicism

I doubt the in-depth assistance you seek will be found in a post or a few paragraphs. A book or a course is more likely to give you the tools. There's the StoicWeek manual for instance, or Donald Robertson's Stoicism and the Art of Happiness.

u/Spock_Here_Captain · 1 pointr/Stoicism

Stoicism is an inward thing, not so much an outward thing. So by definition, having a good job and a good education wouldn't be requirements for happiness or even routes to that goal necessarily. Instead the road to Happy Valley would be paved with right judgments, actions benefitting the greater good and a sense of one's place in an infinite space/time continuum.

So it's possible that you and Stoicism aren't on the same wavelength. If you wanted to find out for sure, you might try Donald Robinson's free online Stoic mindfulness class, which starts Sunday: http://modernstoicism.com/announcing-stoic-mindfulness-and-resilience-training-smrt-2017/

Or you might read his book: Stoicism and the Art of Happiness -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1444187104/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500071577&sr=1-1&keywords=donald+robertson