Topic
Seneca
33 articles
Seneca: The Stoic Philosopher Who Admitted He Wasn't a Sage
Rome's most quoted Stoic said plainly that he had not arrived. Everything else about his strange, compromised life follows from that admission.
July 28, 2026
Rumination vs Reflection: Seneca Replayed His Whole Day
Both look inward. One builds something and one eats you alive. The difference isn't how much you think about it — it's whether you're asking a question you can answer.
July 27, 2026
Attachment Theory: The Blueprint You Got Before You Could Speak
You learned what to expect from people before you had words to argue with it. That expectation is still running — and it is less fixed than the internet tells you.
July 24, 2026
Cognitive Restructuring: You Noticed the Thought, Now What?
You can name the distortion at 3 a.m. and it changes nothing. The step that resolves the thought is the one nobody taught you — and it isn't aimed where you think.
July 16, 2026
Apatheia Is Not Apathy: The Emotions a Stoic Actually Keeps
Apatheia sounds like giving up on feeling. It means the opposite — and names the three emotions a Stoic keeps on purpose.
July 5, 2026
12 Questions to Ask Yourself That Won't Turn Into Rumination
You saved the 100-question list and never opened it again. The problem wasn't you — most questions aren't built to be answered. Twelve are.
July 3, 2026
Practical Stoicism: Your First Week, One Drill at a Time
You've read the quotes and nodded along, then didn't know what to actually do the next morning. Here's practical Stoicism as a sequence — one drill a day.
June 22, 2026
Dad Anger Issues: Why You Get So Angry — and How to Stop
The anger you don't recognise as yours isn't proof you're a bad father. It's a signal you were trained not to read — and one you can learn to read.
June 19, 2026
Anger Issues: the Signs, the Causes, and What's Underneath
The signs of anger issues are the tip of something larger. Anger is often a secondary emotion — and the visible signs tell you what's underneath, not who you are.
June 16, 2026
Premeditatio Malorum: The One Rule That Isn't Anxiety Itself
Premeditatio malorum is the Stoic practice of rehearsing what could go wrong. There is one rule that separates it from anxiety — and the popular versions drop it.
June 14, 2026
A Husband's Anger Problem — Anger, or Coercive Control?
A husband's anger problem isn't always abuse — and isn't always safe. The line between the two is the first thing you need, and almost no one draws it.
June 13, 2026
Broicism: How the Gym-Bros Rebranded Stoicism — and Broke It
Broicism sells Stoicism as 'feel nothing, grind harder.' That's the exact opposite of what the Stoics taught — and here's how to tell the difference.
June 6, 2026
Memento Vivere Meaning: Why "Remember to Live" Is Harder
Everyone knows memento mori. Almost nobody practises its other half — the one that actually asks something of you.
June 5, 2026
How to Process Grief — Why It Comes in Waves, Not Stages
You're not grieving wrong. Grief isn't a staircase you climb — it's an oscillation you ride, and that swinging is the processing itself.
June 1, 2026
What Modern Stoicism Gets Wrong — and What's Actually There
Modern Stoicism sells a posture. The original texts describe a method — specific practices with identifiable psychological mechanisms. Here is what they actually do.
May 20, 2026
Social Comparison Theory: Why "Just Stop Comparing" Doesn't Work
The comparison drive is automatic — Festinger knew it in 1954. So did the Stoics. Here's the mechanism, and why the standard intervention fails.
May 19, 2026
Emotional Regulation Techniques — What They're Actually Doing
Every emotional regulation technique targets the same thing. Here's the mechanism — and the Stoic who described it first.
May 18, 2026
What Philosophical Questions Actually Do — Why It Matters
Philosophical questions about life aren't a list — they're a diagnostic tool. Here's the mechanism.
May 16, 2026
Stoicism and Depression — Not the Way Most People Think
Stoicism gestures at exactly the right thing. Then stops working at the exact moment the weight gets heaviest. Here's an honest account of why.
May 15, 2026
Mood Regulation Skills — What You're Actually Trying to Build
You know the techniques. So why aren't they available when you need them? Because mood regulation skills are built before a crisis — not deployed during one.
May 14, 2026
Mood Regulation — The Mechanism Nobody Actually Explains
Mood regulation strategies fail at the wrong stage. The window for effective regulation closes earlier than most people realise — and Seneca described the mechanism exactly.
May 14, 2026
The Overlap Nobody Fully Explains: Stoicism and Christianity
Stoicism and Christianity arrived at the same practices from different directions. Here's what the overlap is — and where they genuinely part ways.
May 14, 2026
What Emotional Regulation Actually Requires — The Real Work
The gap between knowing emotional regulation skills and using them isn't a knowledge problem. Here's what it actually requires.
May 14, 2026
CBT Techniques for Emotional Regulation — Why They Work
CBT techniques for emotional regulation work. Almost no one explains the mechanism. Here's the Stoic origin that makes them legible.
May 13, 2026
Roman Stoicism — Three Thinkers Who Actually Put It to the Test
Zeno founded it. The Romans field-tested it — under conditions of enslavement, exile, and empire. Here is what stoicism actually means.
May 13, 2026
The Stoic Journal: Why Seneca Held a Trial, Not a Diary
The modern self-reflection practice is missing its most important part. The Stoics didn't keep a diary — they held a daily trial.
May 13, 2026
Nihilism Stops One Step Too Early — What the Stoics Did Instead
Nihilism says the universe assigns no meaning to your life. The Stoics agreed. Then they asked a different question.
May 12, 2026
Self-Reflection Isn't a Feeling — It's a Practice with a Method
Most people ruminate rather than reflect. The Stoics built a specific daily practice for self-examination — here's what it involves and how to start tonight.
May 10, 2026
The Driver Who Cut You Off — Road Rage Psychology Explained
Road rage isn't a fear response. It's a status wound — and Seneca identified the mechanism 2,000 years before psychology caught up.
May 9, 2026
The First Flash of Anger Wasn't Yours — Seneca on De Ira
The flash of anger that arrives before you've decided anything — Seneca said that wasn't yours. He mapped three stages in De Ira. CBT found the same structure 1,900 years later.
May 9, 2026
Memento Mori Meaning: The Technique Seneca Used to Live Better
Memento mori isn't a philosophy — it's a technique. Seneca used it daily to interrupt the mind's assumption that there will always be more time.
May 9, 2026
The Philosopher Who Couldn't Practise What He Preached — Seneca
He was one of the wealthiest men in Rome. He also wrote the most precise account of wasted time in Western philosophy. Both things are true.
May 6, 2026
Seneca on the Shortness of Life — Not a Productivity Book
Seneca wasn't writing a productivity book. He was indicting busyness itself — and the people who believe managing time will solve their problem.
May 1, 2026