The Stoics overwhelmingly considered anger to be the most toxic emotion, even going so far as to say that it was never — never — a good thing. They believed that any form of anger is a vice. Other philosophers such as Aristotle thought, on the other hand, that there…

Breaking Down the Vice of “Sloth” — “Lazy” is generally not something that people aspire to be. I, for one, would not want to be called a “lazy person”. However, why exactly is it such a bad thing to be lazy? Ancient philosophers categorized this idea as a vice, and they fittingly named it “sloth”. …

There is an ancient idea in Stoicism that we all have a piece of divinity within us. Later adopted by the Christians, this idea has evolved into Western philosophy as a whole and has even manifested itself into our modern laws. Its clear implication is that all humans have inherent…

Philosophers often discuss the importance of character, commonly called “virtue”. Stoicism in particular places a large emphasis on developing the cardinal virtues (justice, wisdom, courage, and temperance) which, as the Stoics believed, would allow us to flourish as human beings. At the same time, it isn’t uncommon to hear talk…

The phrase “dark energy” carries a metaphysical, almost voodoo-like connotation. It manifests imagery of cleansing items and places with Holy water and sage and comes off as rather unscientific. Despite all of this, it is still quite common to hear different versions of considering something to have “dark energy”. …

There are few words quite like “love” in the English language. Most people have an idea of what it means, though few could confidently define it. It transcends context — it can refer to how one views their job, life, partner, friends, family, and so on. And we all seem…

You may have heard the term “natural Stoic” bumping around in the Stoic world. It is used to describe someone who is, of course, “naturally Stoic”. However, like many of the concepts in Stoicism, I feel that many people don’t actually refer to the philosophy of Stoicism when calling someone…

Whether you like it or not, you are likely a role model of some sort. The human experience is intertwined with mentorship, and most of us are both mentors as well as mentees. For example, there is a reasonable chance that you have (or will have) kids, and parenting is…

Most of us are not naturally great listeners. Sure, we can be present and not say anything while the other person talks, but active listening is a challenging skill to master. Even if we make a conscious decision to listen, we often find our thoughts creeping into the “wet laundry…