Stoic Week is a free online course run once per year by Modern Stoicism, which will introduce you to a new aspect of Stoic theory and practice each day.
You can enroll now for Stoic Week 2018, which will officially begin on Monday 1st October this year.
Everyone is welcome to take part and it’s completely free of charge. Last year seven thousand people enrolled so don’t miss out!
Stoic Week is a seven day introduction to Stoic theory and practice, applied to modern living. It’s been designed by Modern Stoicism, a multi-disciplinary team of academic philosophers, classicists, psychologists, and cognitive therapists, including some well-known authors in the field.
Enroll now and you’ll have access to the preliminary materials in preparation for the official start of the course on Monday 1st October, which will be accompanied by a live webinar at 9pm BST. (You’ll be able to watch a recording if you can’t make it along.) If you want to attend please follow the link below to set a reminder on YouTube, where you can also subscribe to our channel.
Stoic Week 2016 starts on October 17th. Stoic Week is a completely free-of-charge, international, online event, open to everyone, including complete newcomers to the subject. See our Official Press Release for more information.
We’d also like you, if possible, to enrol on our e-learning site as this helps us track the number of participants and their level of involvement. You’ll have access to the forums here, which are an important part of the course:
However, we appreciate that some people may be unable or prefer not to complete the questionnaires or register online. The Handbook is also available for download, in a range of formats that can be accessed offline. You can access EPUB, MOBI (Kindle) and plain text (MarkDown) versions of the Handbook from the Modern Stoicism website, via the link above. You may also download the PDF version of the Handbook by clicking on the link below:
The participants who took part in Stoic Week 2014 exhibited on average
– Significant improvements in well-being as evaluated by changes in well-being using three validated scales used. A week’s participation in Stoic Week resulted in a 16% average increase in satisfaction with life, a 10% increase in flourishing, an 11% increase in positive emotions and a 16% reduction in negative emotions.
– Significant increases in the presence of Stoic attitudes (12%) and behaviours (15%) as measured by the Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours Scale (SABS).
– A significant positive relationship between Stoic attitudes and behaviours and each of the measures of well-being.
The above three findings taken together give us reason for cautious confidence for positing the existence of a causal link between adopting Stoic attitudes and behaviours (“being more Stoic”) and improvements in well-being, although further research is required to confirm this.
– In addition the analysis of Stoic attitudes and beliefs (SABS) enables us to discover which elements of Stoicism are most associated with well-being. The items with the highest associations with well-being were:-
– When an upsetting thought enters my mind the first thing I do is remind myself it’s just an impression in my mind and not the thing it claims to represent. (SABS item 19 “Upsetting thought just impression”)
– I make an effort to pay continual attention to the nature of my judgments and actions. (SABS Item 17 “Stoic Mindfulness”)
– I consider myself to be a part of the human race, in the same way that a limb is a part of the human body. It is my duty to contribute to its welfare. (SABS Item 11 “Humanity connected”)
– It doesn’t really matter what other people think about me as long as I do the right thing item (SABS item 2 “Doing right rather than pleasing people”)
– I try to contemplate what the ideal wise and good person would do when faced with various misfortunes in life. (SABS Item 16 “Ideal Stoic Adviser”)
SABS Item 19 (“Upsetting thought just impression”) is most associated with positive emotion and satisfaction with life whereas SABS item 17 (“Stoic Mindfulness”) is the element of Stoicism most associated with flourishing.
– There was almost double the percentage of people who completed Stoic week compared to last year (29% compared to 15% retention in 2013)
Stoic Week 2014 begins on 24th November. You can register to take part just by following the link below to our e-learning site Modern Stoicism.
Create an account, if you don’t already have one there, and then enrol yourself on the Stoic Week course, where the Handbook will be published this year.
Last year, over 2,400 people participated in Stoic Week 2013, and this year about 1,200 of you have already enrolled in advance for our new e-learning site, Modern Stoicism.
The Stoic Week 2014 Handbook will be available very soon. We’re just putting the finishing touches to it. In the meantime, there are some things you might like to do to prepare for the 24th of November, when Stoic Week beings…
Subscribe to our Stoicism Today blog, where loads of articles are about to be posted by different guest authors during Stoic Week.
Even better, start writing a short blog article on Stoicism yourself and send it to Patrick Ussher via the blog, to have it published during, or following Stoic Week 2014!
Update your profile information on Modern Stoicism, and upload your own profile picture.
Tip: use your real name if possible. It creates a much friendlier and more welcoming environment for others to know the name of the person they’re interacting with online.
Post an introduction about yourself to the Stoic Week discussion forum on Modern Stoicism, or comment on other people’s posts, e.g., say hello to people from the same part of the world who are doing Stoic Week.
As always, if you need any help or have any questions, just get in touch.
Stoic Week 2014 will take place starting November 24th. Please visit the site for details.
Stoic Week 2014 will be happening from November 24th-30th – save the dates!
N.B. During Stoic Week, the blog will feature personal stories and testimonies about how Stoicism has been useful in people’s lives. If you would like to write on how Stoicism has helped you (the account can be written under a pseudonym, if you like), then please get in touch.
If you are planning on organising an event during Stoic Week, whether a talk or a meet-up group, for example, please also get in touch. I’ll be putting together a page with all the different events going on.
More details about Stoic Week 2014, which was followed by over 2,200 people last year, will be announced in due course, but for the moment here are details of a Stoicism Today Event in London, to be held on Saturday, November 29th, at Queen Mary, University of London. You can book your place at the event here.
You can join the Facebook group for Stoic Week 2014 here.
You can see a video, giving an overview of last year’s London event here:
And the roundtable discussion from last year:
More about the 2014 event:
“This is the second annual Stoicism Today event, and the biggest global event on Stoic philosophy in 2014. It brings together leading experts on Stoicism and its modern relevance.
We will explore:
Practical advice for Stoic resilience and flourishing
Ancient techniques for transforming the self, changing habits and facing adversity – and the scientific evidence for them
How modern psychotherapy draws on Stoic wisdom
How people use Stoicism at work, in professional sports, in prison and elsewhere
How Stoicism is related to other wisdom traditions like Buddhism and Taoism
We also want to hear from you about how you find Stoicism helpful
The morning will have key-note talks and a plenary panel, then the afternoon will offer five different workshops for attendees to take part in. The event also sees the launch of a new book, ‘Stoicism Today: Selected Writings’, which includes contributions by many of the event’s speakers.
Speakers include:
Professor Christopher Gill, emeritus professor at Exeter University
Professor Angie Hobbs, professor of the public understanding of philosophy at Sheffield University
Dr John Sellars, author of Stoicism
Gill Garratt, author of CBT for Work
Tim LeBon, psychotherapist and author of Achieve Your Potential with Positive Psychology
Donald Robertson, author of Stoicism and the Art of Happiness and The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy.
Patrick Ussher, editor of Stoicism Today
and Jules Evans, author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations
Other speakers will be announced in the next two months.
The pre-event fee is £15, which includes coffee, tea and lunch. The event will cost £20 on the door. We’re not making a profit from this event and none of the speakers are being paid – the ticket price is entirely to cover the overhead costs of the event.
This is a great event for any fans of Stoicism, or anyone interested in learning about this highly practical and therapeutic ancient philosophy, whose modern devotees include Arianna Huffington, Tom Wolfe, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Elle MacPherson and Adrian Edmondson.”
Did you miss Stoic Week 2013? Or do you want to try doing it again? This is your chance…
Did you miss Stoic Week 2013? Or would you be interested in doing it again? This is your chance! Starting on Monday 7th April 2014, we’re asking for volunteers to repeat Stoic Week on a more informal basis. We may keep this going by repeating the Handbook, starting on Mondays, over the next few weeks, so you can drop-in or drop-out. Use this discussion thread and the Google+ Community to support each other by posting updates each day (if possible) and commenting supportively on other people’s updates.
If you’re interested in taking part in Stoic Week, please register to use the modernstoicism.com e-learning site and introduce yourself on the general discussion forum thread below below, or just post any questions you have.
A list of the new audio recordings for Stoic Week 2013 with links to download MP3 files or listen online.
You can download from the links below for your MP3 players or listen online by clicking through.
Instructions for Audio Recordings
Some people have asked for more guidance on when and how to use the audio recordings. All recordings are in MP3 format and can be downloaded, usually by right-clicking on the link and selecting “Save as…”, although this depends on the browser you’re using. People using iPhones or other Apple devices may have to import the MP3 files to their iTunes library to play them on their devices, unless they’re using a third-party app. MP3 files are playable on almost any device, though. You’ll find it much easier to use these recordings on headphones.
Morning and Evening Meditation Routine
These are longer, optional recordings starting with some explanation, followed by an exercise. If you want to you can listen to these the first time you do the daily morning and evening routines, to help give yourself more structure, but don’t worry if you don’t have time, just use the shorter recordings, or do the morning and evening routines yourself, by following the instructions in the Handbook.
Morning and Evening Meditation (Exercise Only)
We recommend listening to these the first time you do the morning and evening meditation, to help guide you and provide some structure to the exercise. They’re quite brief but will help by providing an example of how to approach these daily exercises.
Stoic Attitudes Meditation Script
This is optional but many people have reported finding it useful and some participants, previously, listened to it every day. It contains some relaxation exercises and scripted Stoic affirmations, similar to the attitudes in SABS. If you don’t have much time, you may just want to listen to this on the first or second day of Stoic Week. This is a mainly verbal contemplative exercise.
Stoic Mindfulness and Premeditation Exercise
This is a longer and more challenging exercise. It’s intended for use on Saturday (Day 6 of Stoic Week), which is entitled “Preparation for Adversity”, and based around the same concept. This is a more visual contemplative exercise.
The View from Above
Our previous feedback suggested this was among the most popular exercises. It’s a bit longer than some of the others but not very demanding. This is designed to be done on Sunday (Day 7 of Stoic Week), which is entitled “The View from Above” and based around the same concept. This is a much more visual contemplative exercise.
Last year, over 2,400 people participated in Stoic Week 2013, and this year about 1,200 of you have already enrolled in advance for our new e-learning site, 
