I’ve really been enjoying ” A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” by William B Irvine. An excerpt:
“We humans are unhappy in large part because we are insatiable; after working hard to get what we want, we routinely lose interest in the object of our desire. Rather than feeling satisfied, we feel a bit bored, and in response to this boredom, we go to form new, even grander desires.
…
One key to happiness, then, is to forestall the adaption process: we need to take steps to prevent ourselves from taking for granted, once we get them, the things we worked so hard to get.
…
The Stoics…recommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value–that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would…remember that all we have is “on loan” from Fortune, which can reclaim it without our permission–indeed, without even advance notice. Thus, “we should love all of our dear ones, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever–nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long.” While enjoying the companionship of loved ones, then, we should periodically stop to reflect on the possibility that this enjoyment will come to an end. If nothing else, our own death will end it.”
You can read a very nice summary of the book in this three part essay series on BoingBoing:
1. Twenty-First Century Stoic — From Zen to Zeno: How I Became a Stoic
2. Twenty-First Century Stoic — Insult Pacifism
3. Twenty-First Century Stoic — Stoic Transformation
The author was also interviewed by the CBC.
Some related material:
Stockdale on Stoicism II: Master of My Fate
The Five Remembrances of Buddhism:
1. I am sure to become old; I cannot avoid ageing.
2. I am sure to become ill; I cannot avoid illness.
3. I am sure to die; I cannot avoid death.
4. I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me.
5. I am the owner of my actions, heir of my actions, actions are the womb (from which I have sprung), actions are my relations, actions are my protection. Whatever actions I do, good or bad, of these I shall become their heir.
