This article was originally published on Medium in 2019. This article is an updated version.

Stoic Exercises: Practical Exercises & Meditations

If you’ve been following Stoicism for a little while, you’ll be familiar with some Stoic exercises. There’s many, some even resembling Buddhist practices. Of course, you can incorporate Buddhist practices into your routine, there’s nothing wrong with this, and it doesn’t make you less of a Stoic. In fact, you probably should look everywhere for wisdom.

What do the exercises in this list aim to accomplish?

First, it depends what your overall goal is, so the answer to this could differentiate depending on who you are and what your goals are. What I mean is, many of these exercises can apply to you whether you’re looking to limit stress, angry outbursts, melancholy, etc. By practicing these exercises, I hope you find yourself more content with life in your day-to-day.

Let’s get to them.

The View From Above

This is perhaps one of the most widely known exercise. The goal is to look down upon the world, from above, as if you were far into the cosmos. Do you see how tiny the world looks? Putting this into perspective, it makes our troubles appear miniscule, helping us to let go of such trivial matters. We’re but a tiny speck within the cosmos, and only a short amount of time is assigned to us. Why then should we allow such small matters to upset us?

Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot best puts this exercise into perspective. Click the video above to watch it on YouTube.

Praemeditatio Malorum

Translated as the Premeditation of Adversity, the focus of this exercise is to prepare for misfortune. How might you prepare for misfortune? Well, consider a job interview. You might further consider that you really need this job, your life depends on it. So, you go into the interview, thinking all went well, but you hear those words as you depart, which are like nails on a chalkboard: “we’ll call you.”

We all know what that entails – you’re not getting the job (at least that’s what we’d assume). You went into that interview with high optimism; you left feeling terribly down.

The Stoics teach us how to properly prepare for such situtations. Rather than going in with complete optimism, we might tell ourselves that there’s a chance things will go wrong. Perhaps we won’t get the job. Maybe something worse will happen as we’re in the interview (e.g. you could get sick, having to run out of the room, or start stumbling your words from nervousness).

Going over events in this way will prepare us, and we won’t become so upset if bad things happen.

Contemplating Death: Memento Mori

This one could come across as depressing, especially if you’re completely unfamiliar with it. However, it’s not meant to be. We typically take for granted our limited time on earth — forgetting, or ignoring, that we, as well as the people we love most, must die.

With this in mind, it is in our best interest to cherish the time we have here, as well as our time with our loved ones.

In everything that you do, pause and ask yourself if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives you of this.

The above quote comes from Meditations, 10.29, and it is solid advice which we should contemplate often as we’re engaged within our daily tasks. In How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, Donald Robertson makes a great observation: no one ever has engraved on their tombstone sentences such as “I wish I spent more time on Facebook” or “I wish I had watched more TV.”

So, we should evaluate how we spend our time, eliminating activities that don’t go with our values, replacing them with activities that do.

Note: We reviewed Donald’s book, here.

What Would Socrates Do?

You’re on your way to work, when you realize you’re definitely going to be late. Suddenly, things get worse. You find yourself stuck in traffic. Shit! What you do next could very well determine your mood for the rest of the day. You could burst in flames, banging your fists against the steering wheel, looking about for onlookers so that you may shout something at them (the worst possible case, I admit). Or, you could remain calm, telling yourself “it’s not events that upset us, but our thoughts about the events”, or “it’s beyond my control.”

You may also ask yourself: what would Socrates do?

Socrates is said to have been the wisest man in antiquity, known for his sage-like self-control and patience, which is why we use him as our example. You could replace him with whoever you’d like, perhaps Marcus Aurelius, but it’s really up to you. Just look to someone who brings about good examples of virtue, which you aspire to emulate.

Mindfulness: Sto-a

When you inhale, imagine that you’re breathing in good qualities you’d like to improve, and when you exhale, imagine you’re extending this out to the world, bettering the people around you.

This idea came to me fairly recently; I’m not sure how I feel about it. Anyway, I think it’s a nice way to bring about a good state of mind.

In Buddhism, there’s a meditation which involves the word Buddho, meaning the one who knows. On the in breath, you say “Bud”, and on the out breath, “Dho”. You repeat this for as long as you like. The goal is mindfulness, similiar to meditating on in-and-out breathing.

You’re free to keep it as is, or you may swap out the word “Buddho” for “Stoa”. On the in breath, “Sto”, and on the out, “ah”. We may extend this exercise a bit by allowing Stoa to represent Stoicism for you. When you inhale, imagine that you’re breathing in good qualities you’d like to improve, and when you exhale, imagine you’re extending this out to the world, bettering the people around you.

Give it a try now.

The Withering Flower

We’ve written about this one before, which you can read here.

The idea is basically to take any sort of flower and put it somewhere in your home where you’ll encounter it on a daily basis.

Each day, you’ll see it drying up more and more, until eventually it crumbles. This is a perfect reflection of the above exercise, Contemplating Death. It allows you to see the effects take place over the course of a few days. As you view it, it may inspire you to live the rest of your day with a greater appreciation of your life and the people close to you – as you are withering away, just like the flower.

A Smooth Pebble

This idea comes from a book I read many years ago by Thich Nat Hahn, titled Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames. Though he offers us this practice as a means to “cool the flames” of anger, I’ve edited it to be a multi-purpose tool for your practice of Stoicism.

People often forget, straying from their life philosophy from time-to-time. It can be challenging to remember your studies and training on a daily basis, which is why a soft pebble can be introduced to serve as your reminder.

They’re inexpensive (free!) and you can acquire one with ease; if you happen to misplace it, it’s not going to hurt your pockets, either. Search outside. Find a smooth, circular pebble, which can easily fit into your pocket. Bring it home, wash it under running water, adding a little soap. Carry it with you on a daily basis, or whenever you may need it.

If you happen to feel anxious, angry, or experience other negative feelings, take the pebble out; rub it between your fingers, or just acknowledge it’s presence in your pocket. Let it represent Stoicism for you, associating it with your hours of study.

With enough practice, when negative feelings rise up, your mind will be quickly drawn to the pebble, reminding you of Stoicism, it will also draw your attention back to the present moment, so that you can focus on what truly matters to you.

Conclusion

Don’t just quickly glance at this list and move on. Internalize the material above. Bookmark this page. Print it. Write them down.

Stoicism is a lived philosophy. We’re not here to just read books and articles. That’s not how it works. One of the most well-known Stoic philosophers, Epictetus, emphasized the practical application of philosophy in daily life.

In the Discourses, a compilation of his teachings, he frequently stressed the importance of applying philosophical principles to one’s actions and decisions. While there might not be a direct quote stating “live your philosophy rather than just reading about it,” the essence of this idea can be found throughout his teachings.

Do your best to practice at least some of the exercises above. I can’t tell you how much they’ve helped me throughout the last ~11 years; I’m certain they will help you as well.

Farewell,
Matt