The Strong Stoic Podcast

Mike Ryan is an award-winning professional musician, songwriter, studio owner, and author from my home province of Nova Scotia (that’s up in Canada, eh). He also hosts a podcast, the Mike and Kristen Podcast, with his wife, Kristen Herrington, who appeared on the Strong Stoic last year on Episode #249. In this episode, Mike and I discuss music, and the role it plays in our lives. We also talk enjo...

Jealousy: we all feel it, have felt it, have grappled with it, and know that it’s toxic. There are arguments about whether anger is a useful emotion. The Stoics say “no” while many other philosophers say “sometimes”. Jealousy, however, is very rarely considered in a positive light at all. Hence, when we feel jealousy, it’s not usually because we want to feel it. It feels outside of our control, so...

Mark is a gold-medal Olympic speed skater. He won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is also the author of The Stoic Mindset: Living the 10 Principles of Stoicism, which will be released in Canada and the USA on April 9th (yes, that’s today!). In this episode, we talk about balancing hard work with enjoying life, courage in performance, luck and providence, and much more. Mark was a...

Seneca’s very first chapter in Letters From a Stoic is titled “On the Use of Time”. Time is something that is very paradoxical in the sense that we never feel like we have enough, yet our lives are longer than anything else we will do. Put another way, our days are often long while our days are short. Another curious thing about time is that we all have the same amount everyday - 24 hours - yet we...

A ship accumulates marine growth on its hull as it traverses through water. Some would suggest that our souls do a similar thing, accumulating trauma from the challenging and difficult circumstances that life puts us through. This is understandable on one end; we can all point to situations in our past that seem to still bother us in conscious and sometimes subconscious ways. On the other hand, on...

We can’t improve if we don’t change. Self-development is change. Remember that we need to know three things to improve: where we are, where we want to go, and how to get there. Change is the very process by which we get from where we are to where we want to be. But change is hard. If it were easy, all of us would be Stoic sages, living in virtue and harmony. So what is the nature of change? And wh...

In this episode, I discuss the concept of luck in Stoicism and its portrayal in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. I explore the idea of biased fortune and providence, highlighting the difference between mere chance and acting appropriately. I also shares the story of the game of riddles between Bilbo and Gollum, emphasizing how Bilbo's actions and virtues influenced the outcomes. Finally, I d...

Everyone is encouraged today to “follow your passion”. What they mean by this is that you should pursue whatever fills you up. You should pursue whatever you are passionate about. Obviously, we are all passionate about different things - some love knitting, others football, and others again book reviews! Is this advice, though, to follow one’s passion, actually good advice? And if it is, is it eve...

Ryan is the Author of several books including Designing The Mind and Become Who You Are . He takes a design approach to structuring your thinking to help you approach your life in a more logical and rational way. In this conversation, Ryan and Brandon discuss the concept of psychitecture and the systematic approach to engineering ourselves. They explore the idea of algorithms in self-improvement a...

In moments of reflection on what we are doing with our lives, the thought can creep up: Am I doing enough? Could I be doing more good in my life? The Stoics have their fair share of radical ideas, but one that may be tremendously useful in the contemplation of this question is that there is no such thing as the idea of doing “more good” in Stoicism. Wherever you are right now is where you are supp...

Katie Feltmate is a poet based in my home province of Nova Scotia. She believes in the writing process as a tool for healing and self-growth. In 2021, she released her first self-published poetry book, Love in the Age of Quarantine, which is about, in my words, transitioning from an abusive and toxic relationship to a more whole self. I found her book in a local bookstore and immediately noticed t...

Stoicism teaches that living in harmony with nature leads to happiness and flourishing. This harmony is achieved through tension, similar to how a guitar string must be under tension to produce the right note. Taking responsibility for ourselves and our relationships is essential in living in harmony. Stoics must balance their personal nature, communal nature, and mother nature. Strength is crucia...

Merriam-Webster defines fatigue as “weariness or exhaustion from labour, exertion, or stress”. I’m sure this rings a bell with you, and most of us become fatigued from time to time. In fact, fatigue can be of various types – exhaustion from work, exercise, stress, and even spiritual. That’s right – we can become spiritually or philosophically fatigued, even from Stoicism. This episode is also avai...

Kyle is a clarity consultant who coaches people to live spiritual yet practical lives, and the host of the Limitless Life Podcast. We met sometime in 2023, where I first appeared as a guest on his podcast. What I love about speaking with Kyle is his positive energy. He’s a great conversationalist with an ability to really be present – something we all could strive to aim at. In this episode, we ta...

This is episode 301, which makes it the first episode after I hit the 300-episode mark. 300 episodes is about 150 hours of podcast content, which is about 6 days of steady listening (for those interested in binge-listening all of the episodes). I saw that Chris Williamson, the host of Modern Wisdom, does this thing every hundred episodes or so where he recaps the biggest takeaways in the last one...

Simon Drew is an alignment coach, poet, author, musician, photographer, and the founder of The Walled Garden Philosophical Society. He has a Bachelor of Music Performance and is most well known for his work with the Practical Stoic Podcast, which has since evolved into The Walled Garden. I’ve known Simon for a couple of years at this point. It is his third appearance on the SS. He has appeared in...

In Stoicism, externals are outside of your control, and hence, cannot ultimately give you eudaimonia. That is true; your environment, the people around you, etc. are ultimately not up to you, and are unable to grant your eudaimonia. However, that isn’t to say that externals don’t have any effect on us. Externals can and do make things easier or harder on us. Luckily for us, we do have some control...

Merry Christmas, everyone! This episode is just a few words on the magic of Christmas, the importance of family, gratitude, love, generosity, and the child-like wonder we should all seek to maintain. Find this episode on: https://linktr.ee/Strongstoic The Strong Stoic Podcast is a raw, honest, and unapologetically deep podcast about philosophy and self-improvement. Join your host, Brandon Tumblin,...

If you’ve been around the Instagram / Joe Rogan / motivational block, you may have heard of David Goggins. Goggins is one of the most bad-ass people on the planet today. His signature line is “stay hard”. Most people think he’s crazy, running miles and miles while his kneecaps explode, but is he onto something that perhaps a lot of us are missing? Should we focus becoming and staying resilient in...

We can be sure of one thing: tragedy of some sort is always just around the corner. From job loss to injury to mortality, life is full of downs. However, people can be resilient. The human spirit can get through such trying times, but how? How do we find light in the darkness? And, perhaps even more importantly, how do we become a light for others? Find this episode on: https://linktr.ee/Strongsto...

The Buddhists say "life is suffering", but does this mean that we are destined to suffer? Perhaps what the Buddhists mean by "suffering" isn't exactly what we think of. Indeed, Stoicism claims that we need not suffer (spiritually) but that we can transcend the weight of this world through perspective and virtue. Dr. Jordan B. Peterson also has some interesting thoughts on...

As we progress in life, we aim to find our true selves and nature. The Stoics tell us to live according to this nature. But how do we go about self-discovery? Who are we supposed to be? It isn't as simple as what we are perfect at, for we are perfect at nothing (even though it doesn't seem that way from the outside looking in). It also doesn't seem to be just fate, since people seem...

Feedback from the external world is how we learn about ourselves and grow. It is crucial to receive regular criticism; too little can remove our humility. Too much, on the other hand, can leave us crippled with low self-esteem. In the modern world, criticism can be found by simply engaging online... but is this the best way to get criticism? How do we deal with a seemingly endless supply of critic...

Everyone knows the cliche "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". But cliches are cliches for a reason. Making the best of our situation is a core Stoic practice, but what does it mean in practice? Lemonade is surely better than just lemons, but how do we get from lemons to lemonade in our daily lives? Find this episode on: https://linktr.ee/Strongstoic The Strong Stoic Podcast is a...

Every time you see a dog, they are thrilled. You could have left the room for 10 minutes only to return to a companion who's overwhelmed with joy to see you again! Dogs have a lot to teach us, but perhaps the biggest lesson we can learn is how quickly joy comes to them. They say a dog lives 7 years for every 1 year of a human life. Does that mean that they are making each day count? And why s...