Self, Philosophy, Spirituality

Life-Improving Blueprint for More Authentic, Impactful Daily Journaling

2000 years ago three Stoics mastered the art of self-reflection

I started writing daily in a journal about 40 years ago. Back then my purpose was to record my thoughts, experiences, and responses to those experiences. What locked me into the act of journaling back then was the multi-layered benefits.

Today, 40 years later, I can honestly report that I’ve discovered even more purposes and benefits of keeping a daily journal. But whatever your purpose is, the practice can make a marked impact on your life. I would go so far as to say, in fact, that benefits can be life-changing. A few of those benefits are…

• Track your emotional responses so that you can know yourself better.
• Express your thoughts so that you can gain clarity.
• Write stories, poems or just creative ideas so that you keep a record of them.
• Vent any negative emotions so that you don’t carry anxiety over negative experiences.
• Express positive emotions so that you can get perspective on what made you happy. Then you can plan to repeat whatever led to happiness.
• Record your thoughts on spirituality

I thought I knew everything there was to know about writing in a journal. Until I signed up for The Daily Stoic, a newsletter written by Ryan Holiday.

Holiday calls on the ancient wisdom of these 3 key figures, all practitioners of the philosophy of Stoicism.

• Marcus Aurelius — Roman emperor from 161–180 AD (also called CE, meaning “common era”)
• Epictetus (50–135 AD) — born into slavery and rising from that status to become an influential philosopher and lecturer.
• Seneca (died 65 AD) — well known playwright and political advisor. Born in Spain and raised in Rome.

Stumbling Upon Stoicism

Now, you may wonder about now what this is all about. It’s largely about the art of self-reflection, based on the philosophy of Stoicism.

Let me introduce you to Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, co-authors of an enrichening little book titled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on wisdom, perseverence, and the art of living.

According to these co-authors, “Stoicism was a school of philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century. Its name is derived from stoa, meaning ‘porch’, because that’s where Zeno first taught his students.”

We all know the common noun “stoic”. Well…this word, sadly, has been bastardized in modern times to mean “emotionless”. The definition of this word has nothing to do with the original Stoic, or practitioner of Stoicism.

The short of it is this. Virtue (self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom) brings happiness. So the idea is to live a virtuous life. But actively — not just paying it lip service, as it were.

What causes most of our trouble, say the Stoics, is our perception of things and events— not things and events themselves.

Stoicism teaches we can only rely on that which we can control. They call this our “reasoned choice”, which is our ability to choose how we perceive and respond to external events in our lives.

But to spare you from having to just take my word for it, I channeled those 3 big boys in. Just for you. (Hope they are still here by the time you read this.) Meet Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.

Epictetus’ Legacy

We are fortunate to have records of Epictetus’ lectures, at least some of them. According to Holiday and Hanselman, a lecture recorded in Epictetus, Discourses, 4.6.34–35 (primary source)advised students to reflect on their lives in a meaningful way, on a daily basis:

Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning.

• What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion?
• What about tranquility?
• What am I? A mere body…or reputation? None of these things.
• What then? A rational being.
• What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions.
• How did I steer away from serenity? What did I do that was unfriendly, unsocial, or uncaring?
• What did I fail to do in all these things?

Seneca’s Legacy

Similarly, the surviving private letters of Seneca’s provide evidence of his practice of daily self-reflection. Holiday and Hanselman included this excerpt from a letter found in Seneca, Moral Letters, 83.2 (primary source):

“I will keep constant watch over myself and — most usefully — will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil — that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past.”

Seneca’s thoughts can also be seen in a letter to his older brother Novatus. Holiday and Hanselman write in their book how “Seneca describes a beneficial exercise he borrowed from another prominent philosopher. At the end of the day he would ask himself…What bad habit did I curb today? How am I better? Were my actions just? How can I improve?”

Marcus Aurelius’ Legacy

One of — if not the greatest intellectual pursuit(s) of this highly revered emperor was Stoicism. A number of translations of his writing can be found simply by conducting a google search.

Scholars agree that the emperor’s book Meditations was written as a private journal. Here is a translation by George Long, published in New York in 1957.

Another thing scholars agree on is that Meditations is more of a record of Marcus Aurelius’ philosophy than of his actions. However, researcher Sylvia Brummer notes in her Master’s thesis (Stellenbosch University, 2018) her view that the way he ruled corresponded with his philosophy.

To get a glimpse of Marcus Aurelius’ philosophy, let’s peek at a section of Meditations that Sylvia Brummer highlights in her thesis. It’s about some of the qualities the emperor admired in other people, including:

• kindness
• humbleness
• humanitarianism
• never being too busy
• positive approach to all people
• inner freedom and use of reason
• becoming familiar with philosophy
• discovering the principles of living

The Art of Self-Reflection

Self-reflection, when done twice daily in a Stoic tradition, could drastically improve your life. Although it can be performed as private, inward thought or spoken into a voice recorder (iPhone would work well for this), writing it in a personal journal would be ideal.

Ryan Holiday and his team published, on DailyStoic.com, a guideline for journaling-on-steroids in An Introduction to Stoicism. But it’s totally do-able.

In the morning, the guideline says, prepare for the day by thinking about how you aim to act in the day ahead. “You should be envisioning everything that may come and steeling yourself so you’re ready to conquer it.”

At night, the guideline reads, review your day. Stoicism, after all, is about more than just thinking. It’s about action. And the best way to improve yours is to review what went well and what didn’t go so well in your day.

Final Takeaway

This treatment of the topic is brief and barely touches the surface — never mind scratching it. But I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to why it’s beneficial to journal with Stoic philosophy in mind. I also hope this will provoke you to read more in-depth about Stoicism.

While you’re at it, why not put these ideas to the test? Here’s how you can write your daily journal in a more authentic, impactful way.

Follow the above guideline from Ryan Holiday. Also it would benefit you to jot down two sets of questions — one for the morning and one for night. Select any from the above text that resonate with you.

You might want to add more questions or change the wording to reflect your writer’s voice. For example, for the morning you may want to add “Who do I expect to interact with today?” “How do I want to interact with that person?”

For the night questions you could add reflective questions like, “How did I make that person feel?” and “What can I do better tomorrow?”

In this way, you can make your own blueprint. I hope this will become a new self-reflective tool for you and enhance your life.