The Stoic Creator

The journey is long and arduous.
The challenges are many and varied.
The Stoic Creator welcomes them all.

Growth requires discomfort.

"I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered a shipwreck." — Zeno

Vires acquirit eundo. You gather strength as you go.
Embrace challenges as opportunities to grow.
Domesticate emotions to serve, not rule.
A seed must be buried to grow.
You must burn to shine.
Face the storm.
Seek the edge.

Resistance is the way.

"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." — Marcus Aurelius

The path to meaning runs through the heart of resistance.
New perspectives reveal what is hidden in plain sight.
Thought requires action for clarity.
Perception alters reality.
Limits are an illusion.

Avoid excess. Moderate the extremes.

"If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please." — Epictetus

Learn the value of enough, and gain so much more.
Sample the abundance of life in small helpings.
Pleasure ceases at the extremes.
Favor experiences over things.
Find joy in small pleasures.

Memento Mori. Remember you must die.

"Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time." — Seneca

Savor this moment. Tomorrow is no guarantee.
What is lost lives on in those who value it.
Leave nothing meaningful undone.
Life begins at its perceived end.
Mortality brings clarity.

Amor Fati. Love of fate.

"My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it… but love it." — Friedrich Nietzsche

Focus on what you can control. Accept what you cannot.
Failure is the inability or unwillingness to learn.
Try your hand at the broom. Heed its lessons.
Everything in life is a work in progress.
Find the positive in every negative.
Freedom requires uncertainty.
You are not a victim!

Food for Thought

Will you see discomfort as opportunity for growth?

Will you see resistance as the way?

Will you avoid excess for pleasure to endure?

Will you gain clarity from your own mortality?

Will you cease to be a victim?

One Small Step

The first step in becoming The Stoic Creator is this: See the positive in every perceived negative. Even in the darkest moments, a sliver of positivity exists if you dare to look for it. Like Yin to Yang, one cannot exist without the other.