Stress Is Making You Stupid. Six Dead Men Can Fix It.

You wake up in a dark room. A hooded man sits you down at a table and tells you not to get comfortable: six people are going to knock on the door tonight, one at a time. They have been dead for a very long time. Epictetus, Epicurus, Zhuangzi, Boethius, Spinoza and Marcus Aurelius each sit across from you with one thing to give: the story, the science behind it, something to do in your chair right now, and a breath. The sixth one is the reason the other five work. Freedom is not something you win. It is something you do again each morning. 0:00 A room with a door 1:45 6. Mind only what is yours (Epictetus) 5:04 5. Want what you have (Epicurus) 8:23 4. Let the mud settle (Zhuangzi) 12:13 3. Nothing is lost that was never yours (Boethius) 15:31 2. Keep your own workbench (Spinoza) 18:35 1. Begin again at dawn (Marcus Aurelius) 20:54 The schedule Idea: Epictetus (Enchiridion 1; Origen, Contra Celsum 7.53), Epicurus (Letter to Menoeceus; Diogenes Laertius 10.11), Zhuangzi ch. 20 and Tao Te Ching 15, Boethius (Consolation II), Spinoza (Letters 47-48), Marcus Aurelius (Meditations 5.1). Six visits in one room, each a philosopher's story, the research behind it, a practice done in the chair, and a guided breath. Studies cited in the description: Weiss 1971; Brickman et al. 1978; Killingsworth & Gilbert 2010; Bratman et al. 2015; Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler 1990; Lepper, Greene & Nisbett 1973; Dai, Milkman & Riis 2014. Silhouette Shorts. Philosophy in silhouette. #stoicism #philosophy #stress