“We ought not to wait for our spare time to practice philosophy; rather, we should neglect other occupations to pursue this one task for which no amount of time would be sufficient, even if our lives were prolonged to the greatest extent of the human lifespan. You might as well not bother with philosophy if you are going to practice it intermittently. For it does not stay in one place during an interruption. No, it is like some object that springs back after being compressed: once you let up, you revert to where you were before. You have to take a stand against occupations. Rather than reducing your encumbrances, you should get rid of them altogether. There is no time that is not well suited to these healing studies, yet there are many who fail to study when caught up in the problems that give one reason to study”
– Seneca, Letters 72.3
#stoicism #progress #mindfulness