This is The Most Valuable Thing | No One Said It'd Be Easy
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What is the most valuable thing that wealthy people cannot buy?
Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. This is the most valuable thing. There are all the things that wealthy people buy with their money. They buy nice cars and enormous homes. They stay in luxury hotels and fly on private aircraft. They accessorize with jewels and high fashion. They pay for access. They hire help. But there is one thing they cannot buy that indeed no one can buy. contentment. It is interesting that for all the conspicuous consumption and competition between rich people, one thing that is rare amongst them is equanimity, what the Stoics would have referred to as a good and well-ordered life, or as the song we've been riffing on lately puts it, a satisfied mind.
Epictetus, an enslaved man, had it. Nero, the emperor, did not. Seneca, both a philosopher and an incredibly ambitious man, struggled after it, ultimately finding that his power and money were hindrances in achieving it, much like the proverbial camel through the eye of the needle. If the rich cannot seem to possess this, does that not give us a sense of the value of this elusive state, this equanimity? It is literally priceless. Cannot buy it. You can only earn it. And you can only earn it by doing very difficult work. You do it by your daily reading and reflection. You do it by having hard conversations. You do it by pushing yourself physically, by questioning desires and passions. You do it by zooming out.
You do it by questioning assumptions. You do it through the training and practice of virtue. You cannot inherit it. You cannot have a personal shopper pick it out for you. You cannot get it through your Ivy League tuition. It is both much cheaper and more expensive than that. But again, in the end, it's the most valuable thing in the world.
hey it's ryan i'm on the road right now doing talks all over the country i love traveling i love going to new places the thing i don't like about it though is i don't get to sleep in my bed at home which i like not just because it's home but because i have an eight sleep on my bed i've had an eight sleep on my bed i don't know five years my i love it my wife loves it we love it because it cools the mattress it heats the mattress you can have different sides cool at different temperatures It's even how I wake up in the morning. Instead of an annoying alarm clock or that, you know, horrible sound on your phone, it lightly buzzes you awake. And then when you're up, you want to turn it off, you just tap the mattress.
There's all sorts of awesome features in my Eight Sleep. It was worth every penny. The point is, I love my Eight Sleep and the Eight Sleep keeps getting better. Eight Sleep users report up to 32% better sleep and up to 34% vaginal.
How does equanimity differ among the wealthy?
better deep sleep. This is all stuff you love. You can use the code daily stoic at eight sleep.com slash daily stoic right now for up to $500 off. And this 4th of July sale ends on July 12. So don't wait. And if you have an HSA or an FSA, some eight sleep stuff qualifies for that as well through true med and qualified customer safe about 30% on average. Check your eligibility at trumed.com slash 8sleep before you buy. TruMed is for qualified customers. HSA and FSA tax savings may vary. We're traveling internationally this summer and some of those places like in Europe, you know, you can't just go dress like you're slobby American. You got to dress up a little bit. can't show their shoulders, can't wear shorts.
So I'm gonna take some of the stuff I bought from Quince, cause it holds up well, looks good, it's fancy without being uncomfortable. I'm gonna try to pack clothes that are light, airy and comfortable, I can use them in multiple settings. You've certainly seen me in some of these things. If you've ever watched a Daily Stoic video or seen me talk live, I want something that looks good on stage, that I'm not going to sweat through, that's not going to get super wrinkled. Quince has got great t-shirts, they've got great light sweaters, and everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the most valuable thing that wealthy people cannot buy?
0:00β3:04
2
How does equanimity differ among the wealthy?
3:04β4:56
3
What challenges do historical figures like Seneca face in achieving contentment?
4:56β5:45
4
Why is equanimity considered priceless?
5:45β6:21
5
How can one earn the elusive state of contentment?
6:21β7:02
6
What practices help in achieving personal growth and virtue?
7:02β8:47
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Daily Stoic
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