Stoic practices
The exercises behind Inner Citadel — what each one is, where it comes from, and how to actually run it.
-
Amor Fati
You cannot love a diagnosis on command. What amor fati asks for is narrower than the slogan, and the test for when it is the wrong tool entirely.
-
The Dichotomy of Control
What Epictetus actually wrote about what is and isn't up to us, the mistake that makes the exercise fail, and a four-step sort you can run in minutes.
-
Memento Mori
Memento mori is not a Stoic phrase. What the Stoics practised, why the productivity reading inverts Seneca, and three versions that beat habituation.
-
Premeditatio Malorum
Seneca's practice of rehearsing loss: what he prescribed, the test that separates it from anxious rumination, and a five-minute version.
-
Stoic Impressions
Epictetus said we are disturbed by judgements, not events. The Stoics were more precise than that — and the distinction is what makes the practice work.
-
Stoic Journaling
The Meditations was not a diary. What the Stoics actually wrote, the three modes they used for different jobs, and 24 prompts sorted by which one they serve.
-
The View from Above
The Stoic cosmic perspective, and how it goes wrong. What Marcus wrote, why 'feel small' is the wrong instruction, and a version that comes back down.
-
Voluntary Discomfort
Musonius Rufus said the physical half of this training does nothing on its own. That single condition separates Stoic askesis from cold-plunge culture.