Life Lessons Archives - The Art of Improvement

5 Lessons from Stoic Philosophy That Will Change the Way You Live

Stoic Philosophy was practiced in Ancient Rome and Greece. It promotes living a virtuous life, by means of ethical and personal character development.

But what does that mean for people living in a modern world, far removed from the early civilizations of the Ancient Stoics? You might be wondering if there’s anything you could learn from such old philosophical thoughts.

As it turns out, there’s quite a lot that applies to the challenges of today. Many great athletes, political and military leaders, as well as poets, have embraced the tenets of Stoicism to help them achieve their highest goals and potential.

How to Keep Going When Life Gets Hard

Life is not always smooth sailing. That’s probably not a surprise to most people. Even so, it still seems to knock the wind out of our sails when life gets hard. So what do you do when things aren’t going the way you’d hoped, or you get broadsided by an unexpected event or circumstance?

Let’s take a look at a few ideas for how to weather the storm without sinking your ship.

What We Should Have Learned in School But Never Did

When you think back on your school days, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? The school building itself? A memorable teacher? The friends you made? Chances are the actual lessons of reading, writing, math and science are not at the top of your list. Although they do serve as the basic skills of an education.

We may also learn certain social aspects that help us to be good citizens. At a very young age we learn to take turns, stand in a line, and function in a group. As we get older, we may learn more about cooperation and teamwork. And on a less positive side, we may experience relationship difficulties and peer pressure.

13 Life Lessons I’d Tell My Teenage Self

Being a teenager can come with a lot of new changes.

And those changes come with problems we have to learn how to solve. Of course, it’s difficult to navigate that time without the knowledge or experience of someone older. It’s usually when we’ve aged a bit and can look back on the problems we faced as a teenager that we see what advice we needed at the time. But then again, it’s those exact problems and difficulties that taught us the lessons we needed to learn.

So if we could go back in time and give those lessons to ourselves before the frustrations and the pain, it seems like we’d be able to skip over a lot of that, right?