The Most Important Ritual You Can Practice This Year

<p><b><br/></b><br/></p><p><figure data-trix-attachment='{&quot;contentType&quot;:&quot;image&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1531,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UPBpC1CY9XqqWoG8STrdB8bztofCrA_38ZtYHJnEN_PLwahzQHu1qL5kqmPXO63-oS6audwDd5HMNKmfwVERVzq39B_ocfm92xuUie1mTTDMt7CBtcS9VBdQ46KQ3MTUZmlyupQ&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:1381}' data-trix-content-type='image' class='attachment attachment--preview'><img src='https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UPBpC1CY9XqqWoG8STrdB8bztofCrA_38ZtYHJnEN_PLwahzQHu1qL5kqmPXO63-oS6audwDd5HMNKmfwVERVzq39B_ocfm92xuUie1mTTDMt7CBtcS9VBdQ46KQ3MTUZmlyupQ' width='1381' height='1531'/><figcaption class='attachment__caption'></figcaption></figure></p><p><b>Why did </b><a href='https://dailystoic.com/meditations-marcus-aurelius/'><b>Marcus Aurelius</b></a><b> spend those precious hours in his tent, writing by the lamplight, even on the nights and mornings he strained under the burdens of his war-time duties? It wasn’t for our benefit. No, he never expected </b><a href='http://geni.us/cHofcQu'><b><em>Meditations</em></b></a><b> would see an audience. He was writing for himself, </b><b><em>to</em></b><b> himself, as a way to practice the principles of the philosophy we are still following today. He was journaling as a means of self-improvement as much as he was of self-expression. </b></p><p><br/></p><p><a href='https://tim.blog/2015/01/15/morning-pages/'><b>As Tim Ferriss has said of his daily journaling habit</b></a><b>, “I don’t journal to ‘be productive.’ I don’t do it to find great ideas, or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me...I’m trying to figure things out...I’m just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.”</b></p><p><br/></p><p><b>It’s been exactly one year since we released </b><a href='http://geni.us/fXhxepS'><b><em>The Daily Stoic Journal</em></b></a><b>--our attempt to create a modern, accessible (and beautiful) medium through which to practice Stoicism. </b><a href='https://dailystoic.com/epicte