Brian Johnson narrates a short, personal story about stray animals that have adopted his household (two dogs and a newly rescued cat named “Heroic the Stoic”), uses the cat’s calm presence to introduce Stoic philosophy, and emphasizes that Stoicism can coexist with deep joy (citing Seneca and Epictetus). The episode closes with lighthearted anecdotes about other animals on the property and a call-to-action to visit Heroic Us.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. Our property seems to have a magnetic force attracting stray animals. Seriously? As we've discussed, a couple new years ago, a big white dog wandered onto our property. I chased him away with a stick. That didn't work out so well, though. He stuck around and adopted us. And as it turns out, he's the coolest dog ever. His name is Zach. Then another dog showed up and adopted us. This little guy is so friendly, he never stops wagging his tail. His name is Wags. Then a cat showed up the other day. It had clearly been outside for a while and had some injuries. Mom did her nature nurse thing as we looked for lost cat signs online and offline, and he basically moved in as well. Now, I'm not a big cat guy, but this guy is awesome. So is his new name. I just learned this morning that his name is Heroic the Stoic. Which is actually perfect because the guy is both heroic and stoic in the most pure sense of the word. He's got a calm, loving, joyful presence to him that the ancient Stoics would admire. Which leads us to the point of today's plus one. And yes, I was so committed to telling that story that I had to find a practical way to do so. Now, a lot of people think Stoics weren't that happy. That they just kind of, sort of stoically endured their lives but didn't really enjoy them. And that is simply not true. The Stoics, we are told, although they were definitely not the bounce off the walls with manic happiness type, were actually a deeply joyful lot. Think about it. When you take command of your inner citadel and truly choose what thoughts you allow to permeate your consciousness, how would you feel? Hint. You'd feel pretty awesome. Which is why Seneca could write about his life in exile without angst. And Epictetus said, do you want me to endure exile? Wherever I go, I will be fine. Because I was already fine here. Not on account of the place, but as a result of my principles. And I am going to take them with me. No one can take them away from me. They are my only possessions and irremovable ones that are enough for me wherever I am and whatever I do. And that's today's plus one. Here's to your heroic Stoic Joy. That's what I'm going to think about when I admire the calm, confident, understated, but ever present joy of our new cat, Heroic the Stoic. And by the way, in addition to stray animals, we also inherited Ryan Holiday's donkey. He called him Boogers for unknown reasons. We named him Sparkles after a unicorn in a kid's story. We also got some goats. I named them Fred and Winston after two of my favorite heroes, and I had to pay the kids for the naming rights. The best part? Fred is now a unicorn. It's true. Check out the picture.
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