Stoic Practices: The Exercises That Actually Change How You Live

Why exercises

Epictetus compared the student of philosophy to an athlete. No one becomes a wrestler by reading about wrestling. The same is true of a calm mind or a just character. Knowing that you are disturbed by your judgments, not by things, is one step. Not being disturbed when your train is cancelled is another, and it takes repetition.

The Stoic exercises are designed to give you that repetition in advance. Most of them work by rehearsal: you think through a situation in the calm, so that when it arrives you are not meeting it for the first time. Others work by perspective: they remind you of facts you know but forget, such as that life is short, that you are small, and that most of what upsets you will not matter in a year.

The practices below are the ones best attested in the ancient sources and most useful today.

Morning preparation

Marcus Aurelius opens Book 2 of the Meditations with a morning exercise. In George Long’s translation: “Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.” He then reminds himself that such people act from ignorance of good and evil, that they are his kin, and that he cannot be harmed by them unless he chooses to be.

The point is not pessimism. It is preparation. You anticipate the day’s difficulties and decide in advance how you want to meet them. A modern version takes two minutes: what is likely to test me today, and how do I want to act when it does?

Evening review

Seneca describes his evening practice in On Anger. When the lamp has been taken away and his wife, who knows his habit, has fallen silent, he examines the whole of his day, going over what he did and said. He hides nothing and passes over nothing. Why should I fear any of my mistakes, he asks, when I can say: see that you do not do it again, this time I forgive you.

The review has three questions, borrowed by the Stoics from the Pythagoreans: what did I do wrong, what did I do right, what did I leave undone? It is not a confession and not a punishment. It is a calm audit, followed by a decision about tomorrow. This is the practice most people keep after trying the others. See Stoic journaling.

Memento mori

“Remember that you will die.” The phrase is Latin and medieval, but the practice is thoroughly Stoic. Marcus Aurelius returns to death throughout the Meditations: “Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years,” he writes in Book 4. “Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.” Epictetus advises keeping death daily before your eyes, so that you never think anything mean or desire anything excessively.

The purpose is not morbid. It is clarity. Remembering that time is limited makes trivial grudges look trivial and important things look urgent. See memento mori.

Amor fati

“Love of fate.” The phrase belongs to Nietzsche, not to the Stoics, but the attitude it describes is close to theirs. Epictetus advises, in chapter 8 of the Enchiridion, not to want things to happen as you wish, but to wish them to happen as they do, and your life will flow well. Marcus Aurelius compares the wise person to a fire that turns whatever is thrown into it into flame and light.

Amor fati does not mean pretending bad things are good. It means not adding to the bad thing a second injury, the refusal to accept that it has happened. See amor fati.

Premeditatio malorum

“The premeditation of evils.” Seneca recommends it repeatedly: think in advance about what might go wrong, exile, illness, loss, so that if it happens it does not take you by surprise. What is foreseen, he says, strikes more gently.

The practice is a rehearsal, not a prediction. The aim is to see that you could cope, and to remove the extra shock of the unexpected. See premeditatio malorum.

Negative visualization

A close relative of the premeditatio, applied to what you have rather than to what might happen. Epictetus advises reminding yourself, when you hold something dear, that it is mortal and on loan. The modern name comes from William Irvine, who presented it as a technique for gratitude: imagine losing what you have, and you value it more.

This is the practice most likely to go wrong. Done obsessively it feeds anxiety. Done briefly and with affection, it deepens appreciation. See negative visualization.

The view from above

Marcus Aurelius often imagines looking down on human affairs from a great height: crowds, armies, farms, weddings, funerals, markets, all at once, small and brief. He reminds himself of the vastness of time and space, and of how small a part of them his own concerns occupy.

The exercise shrinks problems to their real size without denying them. It is especially useful when something feels enormous at night that will look manageable in the morning.

Voluntary discomfort

Seneca, in his eighteenth letter, recommends setting aside a few days now and then to live on the plainest food and in rough clothing, and asking yourself: is this what I feared? Musonius Rufus advised training the body to cold, heat, hunger and hard beds.

The aim is not suffering for its own sake but freedom. If you know you can live without comfort, you are less afraid of losing it and less tempted to compromise to keep it. See voluntary discomfort.

How the practices go wrong

Every exercise has a failure mode, and it is better to know them in advance.

• Rehearsing misfortune can become rumination. If imagining losses leaves you anxious rather than steadier, stop, shorten the practice or drop it.
• Memento mori can become morbid. The aim is to live more fully now, not to dwell on death.
• Amor fati can become passivity. Accepting what has happened is compatible with fighting what is still happening.
• Voluntary discomfort can become performance. A cold shower posted online is not the same as freedom from dependence on comfort.
• The evening review can become self punishment. Seneca forgave himself at the end of each review. That is part of the practice.

If you have a history of anxiety, depression or trauma, some of these exercises, especially the ones that involve imagining loss or death, may not be right for you without guidance. A therapist familiar with cognitive approaches can help adapt them.

Where to start

Do not try all of them at once. Start with the two that frame the day: two minutes of preparation in the morning, five minutes of review in the evening. Add one more after a month, choosing the one that fits what you are struggling with: memento mori if you are wasting time on trivial things, premeditatio if you are anxious about specific events, voluntary discomfort if you feel too dependent on comfort.