Loneliness and connection
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK (May 9-15) and this year’s theme is loneliness which affects millions of people across the UK and the world. Across the country and beyond, let’s reflect on our experiences of loneliness and also how we can find connection and community through our shared pursuit of excellence through Stoicism.
I think Stoicism’s call for connection is strong. We read the work of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and study alone but then we have to head out into the community and act. Stoicism is a philosophy of action.
With Stoicism, there’s a lovely balance between mindfulness and meditation and connection and action.
Seven Days of Mindfulness with Marcus Aurelius
This week (starting Monday 9th May), I thought I’d call on the gentle Stoic philosopher (and Roman Emperor) Marcus Aurelius to lead us through seven days of mindful retreat. And then, invite you all to connect together in The Stoic Salon, an online community dedicated to reading, writing, and acting excellently with the Stoics.
If you find it hard to create a space for quiet and presence, Marcus Aurelius is for you. His Meditations are brief notes written to encourage himself to focus, to pay attention, and to be mindful.
I’ll send you one email every morning (UK time) with a prompt from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and an invitation to spend some time journaling.
I call this Meditations on ‘Meditations.’
You can spend 5 minutes or 50 minutes a day. You can do it alone or you can join The Stoic Salon and share with others in community.
If you’d like to join me, click here to sign up for your welcome email with some notes on what to expect and how to prepare.
Paths to Flourishing 