A while ago, I added the podcast series, The Daily Stoic on my Spotify playlist. But I barely listened to it. Anyway, on my commute to the University today, I came across the suggestion of the recent episode “A Good Morning Creates a Good Life” on my browser page and thought “well why not give it a try.. it’s just 4 minutes episode”. I badly needed a motivation as I had to go for work at Uni and I was in no mood.
The Daily Stoic is a podcast hosted by Ryan Holiday, a bestselling author. It’s quite clear from the name of the podcast that it offers, each day a stoic wisdom of ancient Greek philosophers. And what’s amazing about this podcast series is that you don’t need to worry about big and complex terms like “Greek philosophy”, “Stoicism”, “ancient” and so on. The ancient wisdom has been well processed in a way that is practical to achieve in modern times and also easy to understand by anyone. Plus, each episode lasts in a range of 3-5 minutes. So, you learn something new each day which is bite-size and simple to understand.
The episode “A Good Morning Creates a Good Life” also featured author Amy Landino, who recently wrote a book called “Good Morning, Good Life“. Both these authors discusses the importance of starting our mornings a right way to have great day and life ahead. Their opinions and views draw inspiration from Stoics and are quite simple to implement into our lives. They tell us to focus on three M’s to give our mornings a right start.
1. Movement: To be really awake you need to give your body some movements. It could be anything, running, exercising, or as the author Amy like to do stretches and some massage on her face. Do something that works for you.
2. Mindfulness: Instead of indulging yourself into digital delights, direct your mind towards dumping all negative thoughts and calming yourself in order to prepare for the day ahead. It could be meditation, walk, writing… anything that brings mental peace. You have no control over how the day might turn out, but if you prepare your mind to face challenges with a smile, it will help you get through day’s anxiety. The author, personally, prefers to write every bad thoughts on to the paper and then get ahead with her day.
3. Mastery: The author highlighted how learning is important for our growth. It’s how she found her business idea. When you deliberately take out time for yourself to learn something, you add a richer meaning to your existence. It’s something that you have control on. It’s the time when you can add creativity to your journey of learning. No matter how your life is going, if you spend your time learning what you always wanted to learn, you will find a reason to live a meaningful and happy life. For me the major inspiration to keep learning comes from “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Anne Frank. Well, I don’t have a particular quote to highlight this inspiration but if one has read it and liked it, they could not help but be inspired by the girl, who kept learning and kept her aspirations of being a writer, someday, despite living in a time when being alive the next day was uncertain. Seneca said on learning:
“As long as you live, learn how to keep living.” – Seneca
So start learning today. Experiment different things. Find what you like. Maybe learn 2-3 more things too, so that you can switch whenever you like, instead of finding yourself in a clueless situation.
But don’t stop.
As I listened to these morning rituals on my commute, I decided that I’ll go to library first and write down all the negativities inside me. I know writing it down wouldn’t make me like my work ahead but it will give me endurance to get through the day. Writing is my way of calming and detangle my thoughts. I wrote down all my rants about work and finally wrote about all the good things about this morning and encouraged myself to go with a good feeling. This worked out pretty well, only in the end it was too much to take, because I had too much work today. But I am happy that I have no work until Monday.
On my way back, I was pretty exhausted mentally, but then I started practicing Kalimba as I reached home. And then I cooked, had dinner and practiced a bit more. So it was a great refueling. Also, I tried to listen German audiobook that I have been listening for a while, and I was pretty amazed to find myself laughing while hearing a foreign language book without having read those chapters even once. I can’t understand everything, but in between I do find the jokes and laugh proudly.
In the beginning of the episode “A Good Morning Creates a Good Life”, Ryan Holiday, mentions that:
“The Stoics believed in the power of ritual, particularly at the beginning and the end of the day.” – Ryan Holiday
As much as a good morning ritual is needed to get through the day, it is also essential to have a good end-of-the-day ritual. If a good morning adds fuel to get through the day, a good end refills what you lost in your battle of living the day and let’s you sleep with more peace.
23rd January 2020.
The Quernal 
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