Benny Voncken highlights his personal experience using stoicism to live a present, exploring his true nature. He unpacks key ideas of Stoicism to help people life a grounded life of virtue, using emotions to inform reason, and find more joy (eudemonia) in daily life.

Guest:
Benny Voncken is the co-founder of Via Stoica and the Via Stoica Podcast. He and his team offer Stoic life coaching, corporate training, motivational speaking, and workshops. Our mission is to help people live better lives through the creation and application of a philosophy of Life, mainly based on Stoicism. Benny is from the Netherlands and has lived abroad for over 15 years. After teaching for almost 12 years, he focused on Stoicism and coaching to improve my life and to help as many people discover who they are and find their path and purpose in life.
You can find Benny on

To learn more about Benny, please visit:
https://viastoica.com/
https://es.linkedin.com/in/bennyvoncken

3:00 – Personal Story – How Did Benny Find Stoicism
5:00 – Research – Misunderstood Stoicism: The negative Association Between Stoic Ideology and well-Being (Karl et al., 2022)
5:50 – Stoicism Principles – Outcome: To Reach Eudemonia
6:30 – Stoicism Principles – Live in Accordance with Nature
5:50 – Stoicism Principles – 4 Cardinal Virtues (Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Temperance)
7:20 – Stoicism Principles – Guide By Reason, Live in Positive Emotions
8:30 – Stoicism Principles – Reflecting on Impulsive Emotions
9:45 – Concept – Reflecting on Emotions is Key to Using Reason
12:30 – Past Episode – Episode 17: Consent and Becoming an Adult with Sarah Casper
13:30 – Example – Rain and Perspective Taking within Stoicism
14:45 – History – Timeline of Stoicism
15:20 – Concept – Dichotomy of Control
16:45 – Concept – Dealing with Setbacks
22:20 – Concept – Living in Accordance with Nature
26:00 – Student Strategies – Explore Your Philosophy for Life (What are you supposed to do?)
28:55 – Student Strategies – Exploring Your Nature (Listening to Internals and Externals)
33:30 – Parent Strategies – “We have one mouth and two ears, so we should listen more and speak less.” (Xeno)
34:40 – Parent Strategies – Listen to a child, without absorbing all their feelings
36:20 – Research - Prediction error determines how memories are organized in the brain (Kennedy et al., 2024)
39:10 – Stoicism Practice – Journaling
46:00 – Personal Practice – Journaling. Getting Things on Paper. Poetry.

Special thanks to musical artists:
Psalm Trees: https://psalmtreesbeats.bandcamp.com/
Jinsang: https://jinsangbeats.bandcamp.com/

To provide suggestions for new topics in future episodes, visit:
present-mind.org/podcast