The Smiling Stoic

Some years ago, I started reading Seneca each morning before getting out of bed. His ancient wisdom was steady company in modern times. I hadn’t previously given much thought to philosophy, brushing it off as dorm-room talk—abstract, ivory tower musings before life got real. Now that ‘much of time has passed us by already,’ these ideas have a different weight.

I understand it now to be a practice, not a pose. The real work of philosophy shows up in the in-between moments. It’s how you respond when plans change, how you handle illness, how you talk to yourself when no one else is around. As is often the case with good habits, it started in earnest, and having found modest progress, I let it slip. Life’s edges have lost shape again. So I’m picking it up once more, hoping to find answers, and get back some of that resilience one letter at a time — this time with the help of Mit, the smiling stoic and doer of important things.

This is the place where I’m keeping track of that practice. The button below will take you to a distillation of our readings, chosen at random.