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Ryan Holiday is a best-selling author (“Trust Me I’m Lying,” “Ego is the Enemy,” “The Obstacle is the Way”) and a blogger. He brands himself as someone focused on life, dealing with idiots, how to be self-critical and self-aware, humility, philosophy, reading and strategy. I became aware of Holliday when I read and reviewed his thoughtful and helpful book “The Obstacle is the Way.” It is a book about stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy and its principles, which has sold more than 100,000 copies and has been translated into 17 languages. Stoicism is an ancient Hellenistic philosophic school founded in Athens that promoted the daily management of self. It teaches 1) that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge, and 2) that the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature. These principles are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain. Some will be familiar to readers, others will not: o Seize life and take advantage of it. o If you seek tranquility, do less. o It can ruin your life only if it ruined your character. Otherwise, it cannot harm you – inside or out. o Do what we can, endure and bear what we must. o None of what we do lasts, no matter how clever or brilliant. o So if we throw out other people’s recognition, what is left for us to prize? Stoics include Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Viktor Frankle, Ruben Carter, Ulysses S Grant, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Churchill, Steve Jobs, Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll, Cub’s Manager Joe Maddon, and thousands more. “Stoicism as a philosophy is really about the mental game,” Holiday says. “It is not a set of ethics or principles. It is a collection of spiritual exercises designed to help people through the difficulty of life by managing emotion; specifically, non-helpful emotion.” In “Daily Stoic,” Holiday provides 366 daily meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. He provides a year of quotations and life lessons drawn from the three great Stoic sages -Seneca the Younger, Epictetus (a freed slave) and Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The meditations are organized under three primary topics (similar to those in “The Obstacle is…”) “The Discipline of Perception,” “The Discipline of Action,” and the “Discipline of Will.” Each topic is further divided into monthly themes: “Clarity,” “Passions and Emotions,” “Awareness,” “Unbiased Thought,” “Right Action,” “Problem Solving,” “Duty”“Pragmatism,” “Fortitude and Resilience,” “Virtue and Kindness,” “Acceptance,” and “Meditations on Mortality.” Paul Tillich noted that Stoicism is “the only real alternative to Christianity in the Western world.” It came to many of the same conclusions about how to think and live. Both are characterized by:  An emphasis on hardship.  A sense of man’s depravity and a constant self-examination  An inner freedom from the world.  An aversion to excess. The goal of Stoicism is to attain inner peace. The meditations of the “Daily Stoic” can be a help in overcoming adversity, practicing self-control, being conscious of our impulses, realizing how short life is and making the most of it. The principles within Stoicism are, perhaps, the most relevant and practical sets of rules for those who choose to embrace the obstacles of life. They are the tools that are immediately practical to our current endeavors. Thought-provoking, soul-searching exercises are included with each daily meditation. “The Daily Stoic” is an excellent way to begin or end each day.