Hi everyone,
Please enjoy this week’s 4 points!
1) Ask and you shall receive
Last week I was flying from Ottawa to Vancouver to be back home for the holidays. As anyone who has been to the Ottawa Airport knows - it is typically pretty quiet. Nonetheless, I showed up about 1.5 hours before my flight to see about two hundred people in line for security. This might be interesting…
As I walked toward this mammoth line, I subtly mentioned to the gentlemen scanning my boarding pass that my flight boarded in 30 minutes, and asked him if I would be in trouble. Without response, he gestured to an alternative line of about 10 people. Thanks to simply asking, I was able to breeze through security and make my flight. There is no harm in asking...
2) How to party
The Greeks and Romans knew how to party. They didn’t just host gatherings—they threw extravaganzas. Seneca, for instance, didn’t rent tables for entertaining—he owned three hundred ivory ones. Let that sink in. The ancients also knew how to drink. Cato loved his wine. So did Socrates. And while we don’t have direct evidence that Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, or Seneca abstained, we do know one key thing: they drank differently than we do today.
You see, the Greeks and the Romans were famous for watering down their wine. In fact, anyone who didn’t water down their wine was considered barbaric—someone who was out of control. The poet Hesoid—a favorite of Marcus and Seneca and many of the Stoics—actually said that three parts water and one part wine was the proper ratio. Nobody but the drunks drank their alcohol neat.
This practice wasn’t just about softening the punch of wine, which was quite strong in those days. It symbolized something deeper: moderation. For the Stoics, moderation wasn’t a buzzkill—it was a cornerstone of their philosophy. They believed in tempering life’s pleasures, just as they tempered their wine, to create harmony and balance.
It’s a lesson we’d do well to remember today. What indulgences in your life could use a little “watering down”? Maybe you love soda—try blending it with a splash of the diet version. A fan of sweet tea? Mix it with unsweetened. Water down your television time by reading during the commercial breaks. Water down your night out with friends by listening to a podcast or an audiobook on the way out. Water down your workout regime with rest days. Water down your whirlwind love affair with time apart.
Moderation is key. Don’t overdo anything. Don’t take virtue or vice in its pure or unadulterated form. Balance. Soften. Enjoy
Source: The Daily Stoic
3) Mental health
The classic therapist-produced view of mental health sees it as inside you — in your psyche, in your mind. However, mental health is not inside you. Mental health is the harmony of your existence in relationship to other people and to the future. The sense of wellbeing that infuses you (if you get the balance right) is not a reflection of the proper functioning of your mind or brain; it is a phenomenon that emerges when everything is in its proper place and operating harmoniously.
-Author and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson
4) Quote of the week
“Look at your habits of which it consists: are they the product of numberless little acts of cowardice and laziness, or of your bravery and inventive reason?”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Thank you for your time and attention this week.
Much love,
Kyle
I love that accurate description of mental health. When I was nursing on acute psych the nurses would say, "Sometimes it's the healthiest person in the family that gets admitted to hospital. They can't stand the home situation." They would recover in hospital.