The Stoic Compass

By C. Trebue

Created by the staff at The Heroic Stoic. Epictetus, Laozi, and Jung discuss topics relevant to life today. theheroicstoic.com

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FAQs about The Stoic Compass:

How many episodes does The Stoic Compass have?

The podcast currently has 219 episodes available.

The Stoic Compass episodes:

May 11, 2026 What does it mean to live the life you were meant to live — and why is it harder than it sounds?
Three ancient and modern voices — Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi — confront a question most people avoid: is the life you're living actually yours, or did it accumulate around you while you were busy getting comfortable? You'll hear why self-knowledge alone doesn't free you, why willpower alone leaves you stuck in old patterns, and why the hardest part isn't figuring out what you were meant to do — it's choosing to do it when the cost becomes real.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
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11min
May 10, 2026 Which of your habits are keeping you stuck — and how would you know?
Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi examine why habits feel impossible to break—and argue that the real problem is not the behavior itself, but the unmet need it is still serving. The episode reveals how to spot a habit that has truly stuck: it no longer feels like a choice, it feels like reality, and you will find it in the moment just before you react, not in the reaction itself. You will leave with a concrete way to see one habit clearly enough to know whether it is still protecting you from something real, or keeping you answering a question the world stopped asking long ago.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
12min
May 08, 2026 What is the real root of chronic stress — and can it be removed?
In this episode, Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi examine why chronic stress persists even when we know intellectually that worrying doesn't change outcomes—and they disagree sharply on how to remove it. You'll hear why stress is self-generated (whether through misplaced control, disowned parts of yourself, or constant resistance to what is), and you'll learn a single, concrete practice to identify what you're actually responsible for carrying and what you need to put down.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
13min
May 07, 2026 What does it take to actually change — not just want to?
Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi debate why wanting to change and actually changing are not the same thing—and where most people get stuck in the gap between them. You'll learn why willpower alone fails, what your resistance is actually protecting, and what one honest question can reveal about the real cost of the change you say you want.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
12min
May 06, 2026 How do you explain the mistakes you keep making — and what actually changes them?
When you repeat the same mistake, your explanation for why it happened feels like progress—but Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi argue it's usually a way to avoid the real work of change. The episode unpacks why you curate your explanations to leave out your own agency, what hidden part of you keeps driving the behavior, and why the change that actually lasts comes not from deciding harder or understanding deeper, but from looking steadily at what you've been unwilling to see. You'll leave with a single practice: naming the part of your explanation you always leave out.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
13min
May 05, 2026 What happens to your character when everything falls apart?
When everything falls apart, three different voices—Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi—examine what that collapse actually reveals about who you are. Through their debate, you'll learn why the crisis itself isn't the real test, why understanding your hidden wounds matters as much as holding your values, and how to read the honest chapter that falling apart writes about you. The episode ends with a simple practice: finding one thing that surprised you about yourself during a hard moment, and asking what you were actually protecting.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
10min
May 04, 2026 Why do we repeat the same painful patterns — and what does it take to stop?
Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi argue about why we return to the same painful patterns — whether it is a choice we make, a wound we cannot see, or a signal we are refusing to hear. Together they move from blame to understanding, revealing that the pattern persists not because we are weak but because it is solving a problem we have not named, and that naming what it protects us from is where real change begins.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
13min
May 03, 2026 What does it mean to guard your attention in a world designed to steal it?
Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi examine why attention has become so difficult to protect in the modern world — and discover that the real problem isn't the noise outside, but what we're afraid to find in the silence inside. Through their debate, you'll learn why discipline alone fails, what actually surfaces when distractions stop, and how small repeated moments of genuine presence can slowly convince you that you're worth attending to. The episode closes with a single practice: a thirty-second pause the next time you reach for distraction, not to solve anything, but simply to notice what's actually here.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
12min
May 01, 2026 How do you draw a boundary without cruelty?
When you finally speak up after months of silence, the words often carry too much force—and you end up wounding instead of protecting. Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi untangle the difference between a firm boundary and a cruel one, revealing how cruelty sneaks in through contempt, the need to be understood, and the desire to make someone feel the weight of what they did. You'll learn how to separate the limit itself from everything else you want to accomplish, and how to draw a line that actually holds without destroying the person on the other side of it.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
15min
May 01, 2026 Why does keeping your inner life private make you stronger?
Epictetus, Carl Jung, and Laozi debate why we overshare our inner lives and what we lose when we do—exploring whether privacy is a discipline that protects our intentions, a psychological necessity for processing our shadow selves, or simply the quiet space where genuine self-knowledge can form. You'll learn the concrete cost of announcing plans too early, why some people cannot sit alone with their own thoughts, and the difference between silence as avoidance and silence as the only place real change actually happens. The episode ends with a single practice: stop speaking one thing you're carrying for seventy-two hours, and notice what you discover about yourself when no one is listening.
📖 Pay Attention by C. Trebue — available on Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR8WLMPC
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVV46SWF
📬 Subscribe to The Daily Practice newsletter: https://thedailypractice33.substack.com
...more
13min

FAQs about The Stoic Compass:

How many episodes does The Stoic Compass have?

The podcast currently has 219 episodes available.