What is Stoic wellbeing?

When we talk about Stoic wellbeing, what do we really mean?

Of course everyone may have their own personal definition of Stoic wellbeing based on their interpretation of this ancient philosophy. But at Stoicare, when we say Stoic wellbeing we’re essentially referring to the ancient Greek concept of eudaimonia, which translates to “having a good spirit.” In the Stoic context, this means having a good character, being emotionally stable, and interacting effectively with the world around you. And we define Stoic wellbeing as “a healthy, flourishing psychophysical state of contentment with your life and the world.”

There’s a lot going on in that definition, but let’s just highlight two things right now.

First, what we’re talking about is not a fleeting emotion that comes and goes, but a stable mental condition. Instead of an unhealthy and negative mental health condition, this is a healthy and positive mental health condition.

Second, there’s this interesting word “psychophysical,” which just means a combination of the psychological and physical. We believe the mind and body are not separate entities, but they are part of the same system and depend on each other. Therefore what you think impacts your physical responses to stress, and in turn your physical responses to stress impact what you think. We’ll be working through both psychological and physiological routes to become more resilient and happy.

This is just a brief introduction to get us started thinking about Stoic wellbeing, but we will explore all the components of this concept more in future videos.

Thanks for being here with us at Stoicare. We wish you well!