🏛️🧠 How to Think Like a Roman Emperor - Stoicism and psychology

🏛️🧠 How to Think Like a Roman Emperor - Stoicism and psychology
Book discussion - read or listen beforehand if you can.

Short summary
Marcus Aurelius is everywhere now.
Instagram quotes. Productivity bros. Cold-plunge people. Therapy-adjacent advice about controlling your reactions and not letting the world ruin your mood.
Some of it is useful.
Some of it feels like ancient philosophy being turned into a motivational coffee mug.
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor is interesting because it tries to connect Stoicism to modern psychology without pretending either one is magic. The real question is not “is Stoicism cool?”
The real question is whether philosophy can actually change behavior when life starts pressing on you.
The question sitting over the room
Can you think your way into being less reactive, less fragile, less ruled by every emotion that shows up?
Or do we just like the idea of emotional control because it sounds cleaner than being human?
A few questions already sitting in my head

• Is Stoicism emotional strength, or emotional avoidance with better branding?
• What does Marcus Aurelius understand about anxiety that still feels modern?
• Where does Stoicism overlap with therapy, and where does it fall short?
• Can a philosophy built for emperors still help ordinary people?
• What is one reaction in your own life that you wish you had more control over?

Book we are reading :

https://www.amazon.ca/How-Think-Like-Roman-Emperor/dp/1250196620

When and where
📅 Sunday, June 14, 2026
🕐 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
📍 Vancouver Central Library
350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC
Room TBD - I’ll add the exact room number closer to the event.
Cap 12 + waitlist
Small room on purpose. Philosophy works better when people can actually answer each other.