The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks
You've read the books. You know what Marcus Aurelius would do. But when life gets hard, the philosophy disappears. This podcast is for people who want to close the gap between knowing Stoicism and actually living it. New episodes every Monday.
The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks
Your Opinions Aren't Observations — They're Demands
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Start here: If you want to build a consistent Stoic practice — not just listen to one — I made a free 7-day challenge. One short audio lesson per day, one practice to try. No fluff. stoicchallenge.co
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You form hundreds of opinions a day. About the news, about your colleagues, about the person in front of you in the queue. They feel automatic — like seeing. But they're not observations. They're tiny laws you're writing inside your own skull. And then you have to enforce them.
Marcus Aurelius buried one of his best lines in Book Six of the Meditations: "It is in your power to have no opinion about a thing — and not to be disturbed in your soul." In this episode I unpack what that actually means in practice — not suppressing your reactions, but noticing the gap between an impression and a judgment, and choosing not to legislate.
You'll walk away with one question to ask yourself this week when an opinion forms: Does this need legislating?