The latter was something that the late Paul Woodruff tried to remind himself, having picked up the insight from Marcus Aurelius. The squirrels were not trying to give Paul a hard time, they did not mean any harm when they stole the birdseed he was putting out. As Paul explained in his wonderful episode on the Daily Stoic podcast before he died, he came to understand that the squirrels were simply doing what they do. They were doing what their nature demanded.

Some people are thieves. Some people are exaggerators. Some people are moody. Some people are exasperatingly friendly. Kids are loud. Mosquitos bite. This is their nature. They are doing what is demanded of them, what’s been ordained for them.

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And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan reminds us that gratitude is something we gift ourselves by actively practicing. For the last five years, we have been doing what we call the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge—a set of 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. 21 challenges designed to set you up to be able to say, whatever happens in 2024 and beyond, this is precisely what I trained for.. Demand more of yourself in 2024. Prepare for whatever is ahead. Head over todailystoic.com/challengeand sign up NOW!

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