How To Find Treasure | What Expensive Things Cost

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Wondery

Education, Daily Stoic, Society & Culture, Stoic, Stoicism, Self-improvement, Business, Stoic Philosophy, Philosophy, Ryan Holiday

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The reason we don’t get what we want is because we want it too much. We reach for it with too much force. We lack the patience, we lack the poise. In Buddhism, they speak of willful will. More often than not, that is our problem.

In her beautiful book Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindberg writes on the hunt for sea shells: “The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach–waiting for a gift from the sea.”

It’s our expectations, the Stoics tell us, that get us in trouble.

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And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic Journal, Ryan examines the Stoic idea that expensive things cost more to us than their dollar value by reflecting on a recent situation in his life.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:10.4	Welcome to the Daily Stoke Podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stokes illustrated with stories from history,
0:19.6	current events and literature to help you be better at what you do.
0:22.6	And at the beginning of the week we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of stoke, intention for the week,
0:28.6	something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about whatever it is you happen to be doing.
0:35.6	So let's get into it.
0:46.6	How to find treasure.
0:49.6	The reason we don't get what we want is because we want it too much. We reach for it with too much force.
0:54.6	We lack the patience, we lack the poise. In Buddhism they speak of willful will. More often than not, this is our problem.
1:02.6	In her beautiful book, Gift from the Sea and Marrow Limberg writes on the hunt for seashells.
1:09.6	The sea does not reward those who are too anxious to greedy or too impatient, she writes,
1:13.6	to dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but a lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience is what the sea teaches.
1:23.6	Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach, waiting for a gift from the sea.
1:33.6	It's our expectations, the stokes tell us to get us in trouble. They make us rigid, they close us off, they make us impatient, they make us greedy.
1:41.6	They're also the reason that we miss what is already there in front of us.
1:44.6	In one of his own beautiful analogies, Epictetus says that we are like the kid with their hand in the candy jar,
1:51.6	our closed hand wrapped around a fist of candy traps us, leaving us with nothing.
1:58.6	Life is full of treasure, but only those who have conquered their willful will can possess it.
2:03.6	Only those who have learned how to relax, who can practice with the stokes called the Art of Acquiescence, can truly accept it.
2:09.6	We are not in control, we must have faith and patience, we must not want anything in particular but be open.
2:16.6	Indeed love, that's what a Morphati means, love whatever washes up on the shore for us.
2:22.6	And this is how we'll find treasure and happiness.
	...

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