The Good Life with 12 key elements inspired from Stoicism

Michel Rayot
2 min readSep 27, 2021

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Photo by Michel Rayot

12 Key Elements to live in harmony

If we define the art of living as a life in harmony with ourselves and our world, we can follow a few simple principles to achieve the good life. Here they are:

1 Act on what is under our control. To achieve freedom and happiness, let us just be concerned about what we totally control: what we believe, what we desire or reject.

2 Keep your calm in every situation. Remember the importance of keeping your calm, even when things do not go as expected.

3 Stop blaming. Stop blaming yourself or others.

4 Don’t brag about what you own. We are not defined by our wealth or by our faculties. Things you own are not you.

5 Accept all that is happening. Welcome whatever happens. It is the path to peace, freedom, and happiness.

6 Realize you have the resources. You have the resources to cope any challenge that may come our way. Nothing needs to worry you.

7 Avoid anxious thoughts and unrealistic expectations. Our peace of mind must be our main concern.

8 Be compassionate. Compassion is an important tool for the relationships with others and for feeling good.

9 Avoid judging in haste and don’t react impulsively. Not judging others too quickly and taking some time before reacting will keep us more peaceful and inspire more respect from others.

1O Remember death. Compared to death, none of the things we face in life is important enough to worry about.

11 Stand by your decision. Stick with what you decide to do and don’t pay attention to other people’s opinions.

12 Live the good life. Act with discernment, fairness, self-discipline and perseverance.

If any of these appeals to you, you can have more on Medium with this link and I strongly recommend that you read The Good Life Handbook written by Chuck Chakrapani. It is available free on the Stoic Gym website.

Michel Rayot

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Michel Rayot
Michel Rayot

Written by Michel Rayot

French, retired of french outdoor industry, past president of Lake Annecy DMO. Now translates in French, books about Stoicism. Member since 2015

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