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Welcome to Perennial Meditations, a podcast (and newsletter) by the Perennial Leader Project - an organization dedicated to providing tools for the art of living. To learn more and read the transcript from this episode, visit perennial.substack.com.

For full episodes of In Search of Wisdom, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Welcome to Perennial Meditations, a podcast and newsletter by the Perennial Leader Project - an organization dedicated to providing tools for the art of living. To learn more and subscribe to our daily newsletter, visit perennial.substack.com.

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Explore the Perennial Meditations archive: https://perennial.substack.com/archive

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Here is the latest Monday Muse with an audio meditation from the Dying Every Day series, a perennial reminder, insight, reflection, and a recommendation to consider. Be wise and be well this week!

For full episodes of In Search of Wisdom, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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💀 Welcome to another episode of the Dying Every Day series, part of the Monday Muse email on Perennial Meditations. This series delivers Stoic meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage, and a daily exercise to consider contemplating.

🎧 For more tools, subscribe to The Wisdom School on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Regarding the art of transformation, the topic of our new series is Becoming Every Day; it is essential that we are able to work with the mind skillfully. This series offers brief guided meditations (with many ideas and concepts) connected with our upcoming course — Wisdom is the Way.

Previously, I asked — “What does it actually mean to self-improve?”

We discussed how transformation is not as straightforward as we think. In this episode of the podcast, we are turning our attention to the role the mind plays in the art of transformation. [...]

To learn more (and support the show), visit https://www.perennialleader.com/. ---

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Pardon the interruption from our regular Sundays with Seneca series. Today, I’m sharing a selected reading from what is often referred to as The Stoic Manual for Living or Enchiridion by Epictetus. It’s part of a new project I’ve been working on called Perennial Audiobooks, intended to deliver audio productions of ancient philosophical and spiritual writings. Perennial Audiobooks is a private feed exclusively for members of the Perennial Meditations newsletter.

The Enchiridion by Epictetus

This short book is a distillation of Epictetus's teachings produced by his pupil Arrian, who collected and published the master's lecture notes. It’s an instruction manual for life full of practical advice for modern living. The opening passage reads as follows, "There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs." [...]

Thank you for listening; I hope you found something useful.

P.S. Perennial Meditations members will receive instructions on how to gain access to Perennial Audiobooks in the coming days!

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Brian Russell, the author of Centering Prayer. The episode is a recent recording from our last virtual meetup on The Art (and Wisdom) of Contemplative Practices, which was part of our Perennial Habits course. Brian is a professor of biblical studies and a transformational coach for pastors and spiritually-minded professionals. You can learn more and connect with Brian at brianrussellphd.com/

In the conversation, Brian and I discuss,

* The benefits of stillness practices

* Knowing ourselves

* The challenges of sitting quietly

* Centering prayer (and the four R’s)

* The Art of Acceptance

* Knowing what matters in life and much more

Some of you may already be familiar with Brian; he is a previous guest on In Search of Wisdom, where we’ve explored centering prayer, forgiveness, discernment, and other topics. Although the episode focuses mainly on the Christian contemplative practice of centering prayer, many of the ideas and strategies discussed are helpful across stillness practices and traditions.

To learn more (and support the show), visit https://www.perennialleader.com/. ---

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In a letter known today as On the Fear of Death, Seneca wrote, "I have already ceased to be anxious about you. “Whom then of the gods,” you ask, “have you found as your voucher?” A god, let me tell you, who deceives no one—a soul in love with that which is upright and good. The better part of yourself is on safe ground. Fortune can inflict injury upon you; what is more pertinent is that I have no fears lest you do injury to yourself. Proceed as you have begun, and settle yourself in this way of living, not luxuriously but calmly." […]

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The late spiritual teacher Ram Dass told a story of when he asked his guru about the path to wisdom. His guru responded, “Feed people.” Ram Dass, not entirely satisfied with his answer, rephrased the question to “How does one become enlightened?” To this question, his guru said, “Serve people.”

What if the path to peace is thinking less about ourselves and our outcomes? [...]

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What should we do about anxiety? Does anxiety stand in the way of finding peace and tranquility? In part 1 of our series, Peace is the Project; we discussed learning to relax. And how, in truth, learning to relax is often far more challenging than it sounds.

In his classic book The Meaning of Anxiety, existential psychologist Rollo May explained that we still cling to the illogical belief that “mental health is living without anxiety.” We seem unaware that the delusion of living without anxiety reveals a radical misperception of reality. May stressed that we have “anxiety because it is possible to create—creating one’s self, being willing to be one’s self, as well as creating in all the innumerable daily activities. One would have no anxiety if there were no possibility.” [...]

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