Live Like a Stoic for a Week

Marcus-Aurelius-Quotes-1

Image: Rugu.

A group of British academics are asking an important question: “Can the ancient philosophy of Stoicism help us to lead better and happier lives?” This week they’ll be providing everything from a Stoicism Handbook to recorded meditations to help wake your inner Seneca. They are also asking for people to participate in a week-long experiment to see what kind of effect Stoic philosophy can have on day to day living.

Check out more information here:  http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/stoic-week-2013/

From their press release:

Philosophers from Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Exeter, and psychotherapists are calling on people to live like a Stoic for a week, from 25 November – 1 December 2013. The week-long experiment will culminate with a public workshop on Saturday 30 November at Birkbeck, University of London exploring Stoicism for Everyday Life.

The ancient Stoic writers Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius offered a wide range of practical advice and guidance on how to live well and many of the founding figures of modern cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) acknowledged the influence of Stoic philosophy. Stoic Week will put some of this ancient advice to the test and help academics and psychotherapists to assess whether ancient Stoic philosophy can help people to lead better and happier lives.

Stoic Week participants can download a series of exercises, reflections, and meditations to complete each day, prepared by academics and psychotherapists, which draw on ideas from ancient Stoicism. They will complete well-being questionnaires before and after the week and the data from these will be used to assess the effectiveness of the Stoic ideas when they are put into practice today.

Dr John Sellars of Birkbeck’s Philosophy Department and a member of the Stoicism Today project, said: “The ancient Stoic authors offer a wide range of practical advice that many people have drawn on in their daily lives. Stoic Week is an opportunity for people to put Stoicism to the test for themselves and for us to gather data on just how effective Stoic psychotherapy is. The public event in London at the end of the week is an opportunity to explore further how Stoicism might help people in their everyday lives.”

Find out more at http://www.stoicismforlife.com/

This year’s Handbook will be released on the blog on November 18th: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/

We’re honored to have been asked to post a short essay on Stoicism for Life blog and we’re also looking forward to hearing about the results of this important experiment.

How has stoicism influenced your life?

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7 Comments

  1. I don’t know a lot about stoicism, but this project looks really interesting. I’ve recently been practicing mindfulness meditation and am hoping to do a cognitive behaviour therapy workshop at some point. This looks like it could complement those things well, and I’m looking forward to giving it a try for the week.

  2. Discovery: the audio meditations are narrated by a guy with a lovely Scottish accent.

    I’m just saying it doesn’t hurt! Although I do picture him as Neil Oliver. Which doesn’t hurt either.

  3. The reason the guy has a Scottish accent is because the Scots have long been Stoic. Anything you want to know on the subject, ask a Scot; Who will look at you like you’re out of you mind in reply.

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