What clicked and made you have a different mindset? How long did it take to start changing and how long was the transformation? Did it last or is it an ongoing back and forth between your old self? I want to know your transformation and success.
Any kind of change, big or small. Anything from weight loss, world view, personality shift, major life change, single change like stopped smoking or drinking soda to starting exercising or going back to school. I want to hear how people’s life were a bit or a lot better through reading and your progress.
TIA 🙏
Two texts by Seneca: “On the shortness of life” and “On Providence”. The first one made me rethink the idea of “productivity” and the second one made me better at handling bad situations. But at the time I still felt crushed below the weight of a meaningless world, and then I read “The myth of Sisyphus” by Camus and my mind was blown. It was such an inovative way to deal with a world that doesn’t answer back.
Also “Discourses” of Epictetus. If there ever was a book that was simple, elegant, and usable right away for a better life, this is it. I’d recommend this to everyone.
It’s hard to single out specific works of Plato to stand on their own, I find the most value to be gained by having an overview of his whole philosophy, but “Protagoras” is my favourite dialogue, as it introduces some essential questions as to why are we so careless when taking care of our minds, and how nobody does bad things willingly (which is often repeated by Epictetus). Also the “Apology” is essential because it shows the basic thoughts that guided the greatest philosopher in the west.