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Choosing Enough

February 11, 2026 B. John 43 Views 0 Comments AttentionEconomy, Enough, Stoicism, philosophy, Temperance, ChoosingEnough, Simplicity

This entry is part 58 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series The Stoic Virtues

We live in a world that is very good at convincing us that more is always better. More food, more comfort, more information, more outrage, more things. Our phones are built to keep our attention just a little longer. Our culture treats abundance as harmless and excess as normal. But when everything is available all the time, the real question is no longer what we can have. It is what we should choose to take in, and what it is quietly costing us.

Temperance offers an unfashionable answer. Not denial. Not purity. Enough. It asks us to notice our appetites, not just for food, but for attention, certainty, comfort, and stimulation. It invites us to consider whether what we consume is actually nourishing us, or simply keeping us busy and restless. In an age engineered to keep us reaching, choosing enough becomes a quiet act of freedom, one that clears space for presence, joy, and a life that feels more truly our own.

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Looking Back at 2025: A Year of Loss, Resolve, and Reckoning

February 11, 2026February 11, 2026 B. John 69 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Resilience, Civic Engagement, Reflection, grief, aging, Reinvention, Intentional Living

At 66, I did not expect 2025 to take as much as it did. My mother died. I lost my job. Certain illusions about stability quietly disappeared. It was not a year of fireworks or easy victories. It was a year of subtraction. And yet, beneath the loss, something steadier emerged: clarity. About health. About purpose. About what still matters when titles and timelines fall away.
If 2025 was the year of endurance, 2026 must be the year of intention. Fewer illusions. More intention. The road continues. In this year-end reflection, I write honestly about grief, layoffs, aging, civic resolve, and the discipline of choosing steadiness anyway. I hope you’ll read the full piece and walk a little of that road with me.

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Civic Duty as Lived Responsibility

February 1, 2026 B. John 121 Views 0 Comments faith in action, justice, civic duty, social responsibility, community care, volunteerism, Wesleyan theology, Stoicism

This entry is part 57 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Where will someone sleep in your city tonight? Civic duty rarely announces itself. It does not arrive as a moment of clarity or a flood of inspiration. More often, it looks like routine. Mats laid out across a facility space. Meals delivered and set out. Volunteers arriving in shifts through the night so others can sleep indoors when the temperature drops.

We talk about civic duty as an idea, but it is better understood as a practice. It begins when concern becomes action. Not because the work feels noble, but because shared life demands it. When a community faces need, and some people have the capacity to respond, responsibility follows. Not as heroism. As participation.

This essay reflects on civic duty as lived responsibility. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, Wesleyan theology, and a wider moral consensus across traditions, it asks what it really means to show up for others when the work is repetitive, incomplete, and often unseen.

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Stoic Virtues: The Courage to Decide

December 22, 2025December 22, 2025 B. John 258 Views 3 Comments Courage, Life Lessons, Faith, Stoicism, Moral Clarity, endurance, grief, wisdom

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series The Stoic Virtues

This entry is part 54 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Most of us think courage looks like pushing forward, fighting, and refusing to give in. But sometimes courage takes a quieter form. Sometimes it shows up not as effort, but as clarity, not as resistance, but as resolve.

During my mother’s final hospital stay, she listened patiently as doctors talked about rehab and recovery. After they left, she said calmly, “I’m just done.” She wasn’t asking for permission or advice. She was stating a decision shaped by a lifetime of endurance. A woman raised in scarcity. A woman who carried family responsibility without complaint. A woman who knew the difference between fear, despair, and judgment.

In this essay, I reflect on what her final decision taught me about courage. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, scripture, and lived experience, I explore courage not as bravado, but as alignment. Not as clinging, but as choosing without illusion. If you’ve ever wondered what courage really looks like when life stops negotiating, I invite you to read more.

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Virtues: Acceptance

November 25, 2025December 3, 2025 B. John 219 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Resilience, Acceptance, life transitions, grief, virtue, wisdom, equanimity

This entry is part 51 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series The Stoic Virtues

Acceptance is not resignation. It is the moment when the mind stops fighting reality and starts working with it. I learned that watching a man who rides a three-wheeled electric bike around Tampa with a smile that seems to rise from the inside out.

The Stoics taught that acceptance begins when we stop struggling against what we cannot change. I have been learning this the slow way, through grief, uncertainty, and the small moments that reveal what the heart is holding.

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Stoic Practice: Rehearsing Death and Accepting Fate

November 14, 2025 B. John 433 Views 6 Comments Marcus Aurelius, Acceptance, Seneca, personal growth, mortality, grief, Stoicism

This entry is part 50 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

This entry is part 3 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

I grew up with death in the next room. My father managed a funeral home, and for a time our family lived in a small apartment above it. Most kids grew up with kitchen noise and television. I grew up with the quiet hum of grief drifting through the walls. I did not think much about it at the time, but it shaped how I see life. It also shaped how I understand endings. Later, I buried friends during the AIDS crisis. I cared for one of them in my home until he died. Those years taught me that death does not wait for a convenient moment. It just arrives.

The Stoics understood this impulse to drift into denial. They practiced rehearsing death so they could return to what mattered. The practice does not pull you toward fear. It pulls you toward clarity. In my own life, the deaths of family and friends have reminded me of this same truth. We do not control the length of our days. We control how we use the ones we have. If you want to read more about how the practice shaped my own path through grief, transition, and aging, you can find the full essay here.

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Stoic Practices: Voluntary Discomfort

October 28, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 354 Views 0 Comments voluntary discomfort, Musonius Rufus, Oliver Burkeman, discipline, hormetic stress, Stoicism, Andrew Huberman, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Resilience, Seneca

This entry is part 47 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

This entry is part 4 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

When I first began walking, one mile was a struggle. Every step was an argument between my will and my comfort. Over time, those miles became my teacher. What the Stoics called voluntary discomfort is not self-denial but a rehearsal for life’s inevitable hardships. When we choose minor difficulties—a plain meal, a long walk, a day without convenience—we remind ourselves that peace does not depend on comfort. Each act of endurance builds calm, gratitude, and freedom.

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Stoic Practices: Friendship and Mentorship

October 27, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 429 Views 0 Comments philosophy of life, Gratitude, Stoicism, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Friendship, Seneca, virtue, mentorship, relationships

This entry is part 5 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

This entry is part 46 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Some people quietly shape the way we see the world. Some do it by teaching. Others, simply by being there year after year, when life tests our convictions. The Stoics believed that friendship was a form of moral training and that mentorship was the art of walking beside someone as they learn to live well.

In this essay, I reflect on five people who changed the course of my life. They were friends and mentors whose presence became a daily lesson in philosophy. Their stories align with the wisdom of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, as well as with the insights of modern science, proving what the ancients already knew: that deep connection is essential to a good life.

The Stoics called these relationships “friends of virtue.” Today, we call them the people who help us become who we’re meant to be.

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Practicing Memento Mori: Learning to Live by Remembering Death

October 19, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 409 Views 0 Comments mortality, mindfulness, aging, emotional well-being, Laura Carstensen, Gratitude, Memento Mori, Stoicism

This entry is part 6 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

This entry is part 45 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

We spend much of our lives pretending we have endless time. The Stoics knew better. Memento Mori—remember that you will die—was not a grim command but a call to live awake. Modern science now confirms what they intuited: when people recognize their days are finite, they become calmer, kinder, and more grateful.

In this new essay, I explore how ancient philosophy and modern psychology meet on common ground. From Seneca to Stanford researcher Laura Carstensen, the message is the same: awareness of mortality can make life richer, not smaller. Read Memento Mori: Learning to Live by Remembering Death.

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Stoic Practices: Contemplation of Nature

October 15, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 227 Views 0 Comments balance, humility, Climate Change, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, hurricane, Seneca, contemplation of nature, Tampa Bay, environmental ethics

This entry is part 7 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

This entry is part 44 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Stoicism teaches that nature is both teacher and law. In a time of rising seas and stronger storms, the lesson feels urgent: to live according to nature now means to remember that we are not outside it.

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Rehearsing Virtue in Small Daily Acts

October 13, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 384 Views 0 Comments Massimo Pigliucci, Tampa, virtue, compassion, daily practice, empathy, The Portico, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca

This entry is part 8 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

This entry is part 43 of 58 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

At The Portico café in downtown Tampa, I paused my work to sit with a man who had just been released from prison. He was unsure what to do next. I offered coffee, listened, and waited until the manager returned to connect him with help. It wasn’t a big deal, but later, I realized how much peace there can be in simply giving someone attention for a few minutes.

In the past, I invited my widowed neighbor to join my husband and me for our usual Taco Tuesday after she told me her daughter had been declared cancer-free. She later said how much the evening meant to her. Those simple moments, one with a stranger, one with a friend, reminded me that compassion is a practice. The Stoics taught that virtue is built not in theory but in repetition, through the small choices that make us steady and kind.

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