Introduction: What Is Zen Stoicism?

<p>"It is better to be a warrior in a garden, rather than a gardener in a war."<br>-Japanese Proverb</p><p>On this very first episode of The Zen Stoic Path, you will:</p><p>Discover what Zen and Stoicism are, how they differ, and how they come together to create the hybrid philosophy of Zen Stoicism. </p><p>We will also be going over how Zen Stoicism prevented me from hitting rock bottom in 2020, and how you can apply the same lessons to create unshakeable inner peace in your life!</p><p>2020 was a crazy year for everybody,</p><p><br></p><p>We all dealt with political polarity and a global pandemic that triggered chaos.</p><p><br></p><p>Social isolation and social media didn’t help, either.</p><p><br></p><p>We lived through it, though...but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary.</p><p><br></p><p>The scariest part of 2020 for me, surprisingly, was <em>not</em> the pandemic, though:</p><p>It was the fact that my personal life changed entirely.</p><p><br></p><p>In 2020 alone,</p><ul> <li>My dad got diagnosed with melanoma (and I lost my mom to cancer when I was a kid, so this hit home <em>hard</em> for me)...</li> <li>My grandpa passed away…</li> <li>A business deal that I invested <em>heavily </em>into, fell sideways &amp; the money disappeared…</li> <li>One of my close, trusted friends &amp; I fell out…</li> <li>I had minor injuries from Jiu Jitsu (which is basically my version of therapy), and it prevented me from practicing...</li> <li>Finally, my marriage fell apart.</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>These experiences made me feel hopeless at the time, but <em>because of them</em>, I discovered an unexpected gift…</p><p><br></p><p>Since I was pushed to the extremes of my emotional endurance, and I had nothing else to fall back on…</p><p><br></p><p>I leaned on to what I <em>DID</em> have: Zen and Stoicism.</p><p><br></p><p>Zen and Stoicism essentially formed my new, internal compass…</p><p><br></p><p>Zen kept me fully present, meaning I actually felt my emotions and the pain of my experience, rather than blocking the