THE

STOIC
MORNING RITUAL

BEFORE

MEETING

T H E D AY

Ask yourself the following first thing in
the morning:
-What am I lacking in attaining freedom
from passion?
-What for tranquility?
-What am I? A mere body, estate-holder,
or reputation? None of these things.
-What, then? A rational being.
-What then is demanded of me?
Meditate on your actions.
-How did I steer away from serenity?
-What did I do that was unfriendly,
unsocial, or uncaring?
-What did I fail to do in all these things?
Epictetus, Discourses, 4.6.34-35

Most successful people have a morning ritual. For some,

its meditation. For others, its exercise. For many, its morning

journalingjust a few pages where they write down their

thoughts, fears, hopes. In these cases, the point is not so

much the activity itself as it is the ritualization of reflection.

The idea of taking some time to look inward and examine.

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 The Stoics were actually pioneers of the morning ritual.

Epictetus urged his students to start each day by asking

themselves these difficult questions. He wanted them to be

conscious of their choices and their philosophy throughout the

day. Marcus Aurelius had a different, albeit more controversial

ritual.

When you first rise in the morning
tell yourself: I will encounter busy-
bodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars,
envy-mongers, and cranks. They
are all stricken with these afflictions
because they dont know the difference
between good and evil. Because I have
understood the beauty of good and
the ugliness of evil, I know that these
wrong-doers are still akin to me...and
that none can do me harm, or implicate
me in ugliness--nor can I be angry at my
relatives or hate them. For we are made
for cooperation.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
THE DAILY STOIC
 Before you write that off as a depressing thought, ask

yourself: Would you rather be pleasantly surprised during

the course of the day or unexpectedly disappointed? You

can be certain as clockwork that youre going to interact with

someone who seems like theyre being a jerk (as we all have

been ourselves in the past). The question is: Are you going

to be ready for it?

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 This morning exercise calls to mind a joke from the writer

Nicolas Chamfort, who remarked that if you swallow a toad

every morning youll be fortified against anything else

disgusting that might happen in the course of the rest of

the day. Might it not be better to understand up front that

other people often behave in selfish or ignorant ways (the

toad) right when you wake up, than it is to dribble it out

through the day?

Professor Massimo Pigliucci does a similar exercise. As

he told us, each morning he does a premeditatio malorum

(I suggest people dont start with the latter, and dont do

it often, as it can be disturbing) as the Stoics called them

(indifferent to ones virtue and moral character), so that one

is better prepared if and when they actually happen (this is

similar to techniques used in cognitive behavioral therapy

to deal with ones fear, techniques that were, in fact, directly

inspired by Stoicism).

But there is a second part to this, just as there is a second

half of Marcus quote:

No one can implicate me in uglinessnor
can I be angry at my relative or hate him.
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 The point of the preparation is not write everyone off in

advance. Its that, maybe, because youve prepared for it, youll

be able to act with patience, forgiveness and understanding.

The larger lesson to take from both of these approaches

is to realize that Stoicism is a practice, not simply words in a

book. This is something one does, not knows. Every morning.

Every day. Let philosophy and hard work guide you to better

answers, one morning at a timeover the course of a life.

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