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Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life.

Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.

It all rests on pillars, a sand.

Imagine one day you're king and the next you're not. Literally. That's the story of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, who has made king of Naples in Spain only to be forced to flee in exile

after the reversal of his family's destiny. Napoleon was sent to an island prison, but Joseph had to move to New Jersey where suddenly he was just another regular person. Rich, sure, but far from royalty.

The same went for Achille Murat, the son of Napoleon's brother-in-law. Once the heir in waiting for the kingdom of Napoli, he ended up living in the swamp land of Florida,

lording only over some property he called Liponia, an anagram of the kingdom he had lost. He dreamed of leading armies in Italy, but ended up as one legend has it, the postmaster of Tallahassee.

In a way, these stories are just the real life versions of the lyrics in the Coldplay hit, Viva La Vida. I used to rule the world.

Seas would rise when I gave the word. Now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets I used to own.

And in turn, all of this is probably the most persistent theme in stoicism, both philosophically and biographically. Zeno was a wealthy merchant from a prominent family with a fleet of ships until a storm dashed them all to pieces.

He ended up in Athens with nothing in his pockets. Cato was a towering Roman senator only to find himself on the wrong side of a vicious civil war. He was powerful one day, disemboweled the next.

The same was true of his rival, Crume Alley, Pompey, the general who loved the lectures of the Stoke philosopher, Posidonius. A lifetime of victories evaporated in a single hour in a single battle.

But only thereafter he was decapitated by pirates as he tried to go into exile. Zeno was the man behind the throne with Nero until Nero turned on him.

All of our fates and fortunes rest on pillars of sand. Today we are on high. Tomorrow can bring us down low. And the day after that, lower than even believed possible. That's life. It humbles us. It surprises us.

It is not inclined to show mercy or to care about your precious dreams. That's why we must be prepared not only with pre-Meditashio Malorum and anticipation of the twists and turns of fate, but a more faulty, ready to love whatever that fate is.

It's why we have to forge an inner citadel and iron spine that allows us to endure and survive anything. And it's why we must be careful of ego. Ego is the enemy. Ego makes us think that what we have right now is actually ours or that it says something about us as people. All you can do is be ready.

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The tour who are Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports on the strength of what he called a crazy idea that American joggers needed better running shoes and that they pay top dollar to get them.

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