Seneca’s reflections on personal growth

How can we grow in #effectiveness and happiness? Is there a proven method we can use to improve our station in life? Can we rely on advice given by philosophers in previous centuries? #Seneca was already aware of those questions when he wrote his Letters to Lucilius. His answers are concrete and coherent, and have been proven true in countless cases. In contrast to today’s self-development gurus, Seneca didn’t call for intense effort and dedication. Why not? Because he had learned from experience that personal growth depends more on constancy than on exorbitant efforts. I’m not saying that Seneca denied the importance of reading or studying. He regarded them as advisable, but not as the sole source of #wisdom. In fact, he viewed reading as insufficient for sustained personal growth. Seneca’s essay “On Idleness” complements the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) on the acquisition of wisdom. It invites readers to slow down, and devote time to meditation. Without regular periods of idleness, Seneca explained, we will become physically and mentally exhausted. The demands of daily life, if they are not paused from time to time, will eat all our energy, and leave us “empty and disenchanted.” Seneca regarded personal growth as the automatic outcome of exercising reason, having clear priorities and pursuing them assiduously. The presence of those elements (reason, priorities, constancy) marks the difference between true personal growth and simple progress in one’s career, business or social life. Why does Seneca view regular periods of idleness as crucial for #personalgrowth? Because those periods help us refocus, recalibrate and rebalance our #priorities. They enable us to let go of the trivial and concentrate ourselves on the essential. Seneca is assuming that idleness periods would remain brief and spaced out. We are talking about a few weeks per year, not about a life devoted to idleness. Extended leisure would prove noxious, he explains, but so would prove relentless work. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-reflections-on-personal-growth/