The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the Stoic morning journal I actually do, not an idealised version. I walk through how I lay the page out to set the day, remember what matters, and meet whatever comes with a bit more steadiness. The thread running through it is intention over perfection. I would rather you do a scrappy version most days than a perfect version you quit in a week. I cover the app...

People think Stoicism means going cold. Caring about the right things, feeling nothing for the rest. I think that gets it backwards. In this episode I look at how to hold space for someone who is suffering without getting pulled under by it. The Stoic move is to wish them well and feel for them, but not to adopt their judgments as your own. Seneca wrote letters to do exactly this. I find that dist...

Justin Noppé and I get into a question I keep circling back to: which emotions actually make a life feel good, and how much of that is in your control. We talk through the six positive emotions Barbara Fredrickson links to flourishing, and where Stoic practice fits alongside them. We also cover the case for journaling and self-reflection, why anticipation does so much of the work in happiness, and...

You cannot stop intrusive thoughts from arriving. What you can change is what happens next. In this AMA I take questions on how to stop getting hooked by negative thoughts, and how the Stoic view of judgment gives you a way out that does not rely on forcing the thought away. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

Allan built WhatIsStoicism, and in this episode he tells me how he got there: from a Tim Ferriss podcast and William Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life into a daily practice that reshaped how he works and lives. We spend most of the conversation on journaling, the Stoic technique that stuck with Allan more than any other. He shares how he actually started, why rereading and creating content deepen...

Most advice on Stoic routines stays vague. In this one I walk through a full day, hour by hour, with specific practices you can use straight away. It is built around four moments: how you start the morning, how you work, how you show up at home, and how you close the day. Treat it as a menu, not a rulebook. Take what fits your life and leave the rest. Read the companion article: www.stoichandbook....

I tend to think anxiety gets a worse reputation than it deserves. Handled well, it is information, not an enemy. In this fast-paced Q&A I sat down with my HighExistence colleague Mike Slavin to answer rapid-fire questions about anxiety, where it comes from, and what to actually do when it shows up. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

This is a sneak peek of the second Ask Me Anything, recorded for Stoic Handbook Premium. In the full 45-minute version I work through three listener questions: how to handle holiday indulgence without guilt, how I have actually leaned on Stoicism in my own life, and how to practise the dichotomy of control when someone you love is suffering. That last one is the hardest, and the part I keep coming...

Desire is where most of our suffering starts. In this lesson I lay out three stages of attachment to external things, and three ways the Stoics suggest working with desire so it stops running the show. I am calling it enlightenment loosely. It is really about getting less yanked around by what you want. Read more: www.stoichandbook.co/how-to-gain-the-powers-of-a-stoic-god Free 7-Day Stoic Challeng...

Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman empire while dealing with a difficult son, a lazy co-emperor, and a steady stream of people trying to antagonise or overthrow him. His days were full of hard social moments. This is the morning meditation he used to prepare his mind before any of it began. It is a guided contemplation, so find somewhere quiet before you start. It belongs to my 10-day course, The Stoic...

Some desires are set up to disappoint you no matter what you do. In this lesson I name two of them, what I call impossible desires and slave desires, and show why both leave you suffering even when things go your way. Once you can spot them, you can form intentions that do not quietly set you up to lose. Further reading: www.stoichandbook.co/impossible-desires-cause-disappointment Free 7-Day Stoic...

An insult only lands if you agree with it. That is the Stoic claim, and in this lesson I turn it into something you can actually use. I walk through a step-by-step way of meeting an insult so it loses its sting, drawing on how the Stoics thought about other people’s opinions of us. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

Most relationship trouble is really a communication problem wearing a disguise. In this talk I lay out the three pillars I keep coming back to: the habits that quietly wreck conversations, a simple way to express yourself well in almost any situation, and the model I use to handle conflict when it does flare up. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

Loving-kindness is usually taught as a Buddhist practice, but the Stoics had their own version built on the idea that we are made for each other. This is a complete guided meditation that moves through three kinds of compassion: love of people, love of humanity, and love of service. It is a sit-down practice, so find somewhere quiet and give it your full attention. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoi...

Reframing a bad event into something useful is one of the classic Stoic moves. But I have always wondered where the line is. Can you reframe too much? Is there a point where turning everything into a silver lining becomes its own kind of denial? I put the question to Donald Robertson, and his answer is more careful than I expected. We get into when reframing helps, when it tips into self-deception...

Most of what keeps you alive is invisible to you right now. The food and water that arrived without you thinking about it. The atmosphere holding at exactly the right balance. The sheer unlikelihood of having been born at all. This guided meditation is about noticing it again. We let ourselves go numb to ordinary life, and I think that is a quiet mistake. So we slow down and try to feel the awe in...

This time I am the one being interviewed. The creator of the WhatIsStoicism blog and podcast had me on to talk through how I have used Stoicism to work with anxiety, and what the path of getting better at it has actually looked like for me. WhatIsStoicism blog: whatisstoicism.com/what-is-stoicism WhatIsStoicism podcast: whatisstoicism.com/podcast Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The S...

The Stoics talked about training the body as well as the mind, but it rarely comes up in modern Stoicism. So I asked Donald Robertson what the ancient Stoics actually thought about exercise, and how their view of physical training fits with the rest of the philosophy. More from Donald: donaldrobertson.name Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

A lot of us get into philosophy and self-improvement not to actually become wiser, but to be seen as wise. Epictetus spotted how badly that backfires. In this lesson I sit with one of his sharper passages and what it asks of us. Epictetus put it this way: “If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don’t aspire to a reputation for sagacity. I...

Most of us run a quiet stress loop without noticing it. We tell ourselves we have to worry, or something bad will happen. In this episode I look at that game first, then offer the Stoic alternative Epictetus recommends. Here is the passage I work from: “If you want to make progress, drop reflections like: ‘I will end up destitute if I don’t take better care of my affairs,’ or, ‘Unless I discipline...

It is easy to read a lot about Stoicism and mistake that for actually practising it. I put this to Donald Robertson, and we get into the gap between knowing the ideas and living them, what he calls the illusion of mastery. We also talk about the view from above as a practice, and end on a fun one: what Marcus Aurelius would make of the modern world if he time travelled into it. More from Donald: d...

Asked what philosophy had taught him, Diogenes the Cynic said it taught him “to be prepared for every fortune.” I think he is one of the strangest, most useful figures in this whole tradition. The Cynics came before the Stoics, and Diogenes took self-sufficiency to an extreme. He lived in a barrel, ate only when truly hungry, drank only when truly thirsty, and as a result could enjoy a plain cup o...

When you are anxious, the fear is usually hiding underneath a vaguer worry. The What If technique is a way of following the thread down to whatever you are actually afraid of, so you can deal with the real thing instead of the fog around it. It comes from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the science-backed approach that grew out of Stoic philosophy. This guided meditation is one of over a dozen in m...

Modern Stoicism gets sold mostly as resilience and acceptance. But I wanted to ask the obvious follow-up: can it actually make life more joyful? Not just calmer, but richer in awe, laughter, the good stuff. I put that to Donald Robertson. This is the first in a series where I pick his brain on the Stoic ideas I keep wrestling with. More from Donald: donaldrobertson.name Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge:...

Donald Robertson spent nearly three years making VERISSIMUS, a graphic novel about the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. It might be the most ambitious philosophy project I have come across: historically accurate, genuinely action-packed, and a real way in for anyone who finds the Meditations hard to start with. In this interview Donald comes back on the show to talk through how the book cam...