Seneca's recipe for achieving a balanced life

Cooking recipes are hard to carry out perfectly the first time if the process is too complex. Even if the recipe is described in great detail, one must deal with variability in the ingredients in terms of quality and freshness, cooking temperature, etc.Seneca gave philosophical recipes that are not any easier to carry out than haute-cuisine recipes. He did write down his recommendations with profuse detail, but we must nonetheless adapt those to our own circumstances.In his 77th and 101st Letters to Lucilius, Seneca provides an important clue about how to achieve balance. He encourages us to look at life from the perspective of death, so that we can identify those things that are really important, and those that waste our time.Seneca’s advice can help us acquire serenity, first of all. His writings do not speak about a balanced perspective, but if we get the numbers right, we would automatically strike the right balance. It all starts with our being realistic regarding our life expectancy.We should not make an assumption that is too short because it would destroy our motivation to do anything productive. I would not expect a high motivation from people who believe that they have no future.In the Middle Ages, especially in the ninth century, some people were convinced that the world was about to end. As a result, those people stopped labouring the fields, building new homes, and all other productive activities.Seneca was trying to prevent individuals from adopting an exaggerated short-term attitude. Barring a strong reason, it is not rational to think that we are about to die, or that the world is about to end.Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-recipe-for-achieving-a-balanced-life/