The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks

31:23

Stoic Joy: Six Habits For A Calmer Life

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/10/06

You can get better at handling difficulty and still forget to enjoy your life. This half-hour Stoic talk explores six habits for practising joy, including the seven-second control check, the View from Above and the Joy of Enough. It also covers a 24-hour virtue experiment, obstacle training and a morning-and-evening routine. Choose one habit from the session and give it a place in your day. There's no need to turn all six into another list of things you're failing to do. Free 7-Day Stoic Ch...

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3:13

The Reset: How to Come Back Quickly When You've Lost It

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/10/05

Marcus Aurelius expected to be knocked off balance. His advice was to come back quickly and treat every return as training. This short Stoic practice is for the moment after you’ve snapped or started spiralling. The Reset uses SPQR as a modern memory aid: Stop, Pause, Question, Reframe. Take one breath, check the story you’re telling yourself, and look at what’s actually here and what your part is. Try one Reset today and record whether you came back. This is episode two of One Passage. Pas...

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58:14

Massimo Pigliucci: How to Think Clearly Without...

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/10/03

How do you make a decision when you might be wrong? Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci joins me to explore critical thinking and scepticism in everyday life. Drawing on his book How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic, Massimo explains how the ancient sceptics and Cicero approached uncertainty. We discuss degrees of confidence, how much evidence a decision needs, and why an open mind still needs a way to act. You’ll hear how to examine a belief you hold strongly, argue for a view you disagree with, and dist...

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3:44

The Flinch: What to Do With the First Jolt of Anger...

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/10/02

Your body reacts before you decide anything. Seneca says even the wise still blush and sweat. This short Stoic practice helps you name the first jolt of anger or anxiety and stop mistaking it for a decision. This is the first episode of One Passage: one ancient passage, one practice to try today. Notice the flinch once, name it, and record whether you caught it. Even noticing it after you’ve reacted counts. Passage: Seneca, Letters from a Stoic, Letter 11, translated by Richard M. Gummere. ...

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13:18

Let Go Of What You Can't Control: A Stoic Meditation

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/10/01

You keep returning to the reply that hasn't come, the decision someone else is making, or the conversation you wish had gone differently. This 13-minute guided meditation uses Epictetus's image of the dice and the player to work with one situation you've been carrying. Settle with the breath, separate what has fallen from the use you can make of it, and choose one next action. The practice is called The Throw And The Play. There is space to reflect throughout, so bring a small, everyday conce...

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45:52

The Stoic Pause: Respond Without Reacting

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/29

You know how you want to handle anger. Then someone says the wrong thing, and you're already reacting. This 45-minute Stoic talk works through PAUSE: Perceive, Acknowledge, Unhook, Sort and Engage. It connects the Stoic distinction between an impression and your response with guided practice for emotionally charged moments, followed by questions from the original live session. Practise making room for the feeling while choosing what to do next. The feeling may still be there. Free 7-Day Sto...

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13:36

Stoic Sleep Practice: Full-Body Release Into Deep Rest

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/24

A 13-minute guided sleep practice for nights when your body is in bed but the day is still moving through your mind. This slow full-body scan moves from the scalp to the toes, letting the jaw, shoulders, hands, hips and legs release into the mattress. There is almost no philosophy here, deliberately. Nothing to learn and nothing to solve. Put the phone down, get comfortable, and let the practice fade with you. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

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64:51

Is This Worth Your Peace of Mind? A Stoic Guide to Anger

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/22

Anger can feel like strength, clarity or self-respect. But once it gathers momentum, it narrows your choices and makes you pay for the first reaction twice. In this full live masterclass, I explore Seneca's three warnings about anger: it makes us a slave, accelerates quickly and spreads between people. I share the question that has helped me interrupt it: "Is this worth sacrificing my peace of mind over?" We also work through practical Stoic tools including premeditatio malorum, journalling,...

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7:04

Stoic Morning Rehearsal For A High-Stakes Day

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/17

A 7-minute guided Stoic practice for the morning of a presentation, interview, difficult meeting or test. You will rehearse one realistic setback, separate what is yours from what is not, and choose how you want to act when the moment arrives. The practice draws on premeditation of adversity, Epictetus's first chapter of the Enchiridion, and Cicero's archer image. Use it before the event, then take one sentence with you: I have prepared. I will do my part. The rest is not mine. Free 7-Day S...

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31:42

Envy Is the Greatest Motivator

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/15

Envy has a terrible reputation. But the feeling itself can tell you what you value, where comparison has hooked you, and what you may need to work towards. In this episode, I separate malicious envy from the more useful kind, drawing on Alain de Botton, the story of Mozart and Salieri, and my own experiences learning guitar and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I also share a simple envy diary practice you can try for one week. The point is not to pretend envy is noble. It is to stop hiding it, read the...

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5:42

A Stoic Morning Practice For Grief And Loss

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/10

Some mornings, grief is present before you open your eyes. This gentle guided practice does not ask you to stop grieving or manufacture a better mood. You will make a little room for the weight, notice one source of warmth, and choose one small act of care for the next few hours. The Stoic frame draws on Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.48; the guided structure is a modern adaptation. Use it seated or lying down. If the practice feels too much today, ordinary breathing is enough, and you can st...

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13:46

The Marcus Aurelius Quote He Never Wrote

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/08

One of Marcus Aurelius's most famous online quotes does not appear in the Meditations. In this episode, I look at several fabricated, misattributed and over-smoothed Stoic quotes, including one I used myself. The point is bigger than pedantry. A philosophy built on checking impressions should not be taught through claims nobody checked. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

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5:51

Stoic Morning Practice: Be Fair To Yourself

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/03

Some mornings, the first voice you hear is a prosecutor. It lists what you did badly, what you did not finish and what you should have become by now. This guided Stoic morning practice helps you take one honest mistake, separate the facts from the verdict you added, and test that verdict against what you would say to someone you care about. It draws on Seneca's nightly self-review and Epictetus's distinction between events and our judgements about them. Being fair to yourself does not mean ...

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8:29

You Broke the Streak. Now What?

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/09/01

One missed day is rarely the problem. The story you tell yourself the next day is. This episode looks at the Stoic idea of progress, why trends survive lapses while streaks do not, and the Same Day Return: one tiny action that gets you back into a practice without trying to catch up. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

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7:59

Stoic Attention Practice: Return Before The Noise

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/27

Before the first message, headline, or demand, practise the Stoic discipline of attention. This guided meditation introduces prosochē: noticing where the mind has gone and returning before an impression becomes an automatic judgement or action. It draws on Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.29, and Seneca, Letters 13.4. The sound, body, breath, and one-word labelling sequence is a modern guided adaptation, not a reconstructed ancient ritual. The point is not perfect concentration. The return is t...

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7:06

The Stoic Skill Underneath Every Other Skill

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/25

You look up and twenty minutes have gone. The problem is not only the phone. It is the tiny judgements your mind keeps accepting while you scroll. In this episode, I explain prosochē, the Stoic practice of attention, and share Name the Hook: a one-word exercise for catching what has taken hold of you before shame takes over. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

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6:55

Stoic Morning Practice: Start Before You Feel Ready

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/23

Some mornings, nothing has gone wrong and the day already feels like too much. This guided Stoic morning practice starts from Marcus Aurelius's own argument with the bed in Meditations 5.1. Rather than manufacturing enthusiasm, you will choose one real reason to move and one obstacle to begin. The practice also draws on Meditations 5.20, where Marcus treats an obstruction as material for action. You do not need to feel ready. You need one honest start. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchalle...

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10:41

Why You Knew Better and Did It Anyway

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/18

We usually explain regret as knowing better but lacking discipline. This episode argues something more useful: in a hot state, the values on your internal scoreboard change. I connect Epictetus with hot-cold empathy gaps, self-control replication research and implementation intentions. Then I give you a four-minute handover note: one specific if-then plan, written while you can still see clearly, for the version of you who will not realise their judgement has changed. Sources and further re...

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18:32

Nobody Does Evil on Purpose. Really?

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/11

Stoicism says nobody does wrong on purpose: every bad act begins in a mistaken judgement about what is good. But does that survive contact with clear-eyed cruelty, compulsive habit and modern moral psychology? I test the claim against Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Medea, research on psychopathy and the Stoics' own internal disagreement. Then I keep the practical part that still works: catching one assent before it hardens into action. Sources and further reading: - Epictetus, Discourses 1.28...

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109:13

Why the Relaxed Man Always Wins (with Bas Rutten)

The Stoic Handbook with Jon Brooks ·

2026/08/03

The most feared striker in MMA history spent this conversation talking about calm. Before his first fight in Japan, Bas Rutten wrote one letter on each fist with a marker: R, for rustig, Dutch for relaxed. He'd found out that morning his opponent was 33 pounds heavier, the round was thirty minutes long, and there were no rules he recognised. Mid-fight he was calm enough to overhear two spectators in the front row discussing a house move, and that was when he noticed the two voices in him. Th...

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