Speaker 1: Have you ever caught yourself intensely wanting something, and when
Speaker 1: you got it, you realized it didn't change anything. Worse
Speaker 1: that it only created new needs. No matter how much
Speaker 1: you accumulate, conquer, pursue. On the other side, only the
Speaker 1: echo of dissatisfaction, an emptiness, a tiredness, sometimes even a
Speaker 1: growing anxiety, as if stopping the chase were a failure.
Speaker 1: Epicurus observed this over two thousand years ago. He saw
Speaker 1: that the more you desire, the more captive you become,
Speaker 1: and that freedom isn't about having many options, but about
Speaker 1: needing few things. Modern society has completely inverted this equation.
Speaker 1: It transformed desire into identity, and you became measured by
Speaker 1: what you consume, display, acute, emulate. A large part of
Speaker 1: human suffering is born from desires that are neither natural
Speaker 1: nor necessary. You wake up wanting things you didn't want yesterday.
Speaker 1: You see an outfit, a car, a lifestyle on social media,
Speaker 1: and suddenly it becomes an urgent need in your mind.
Speaker 1: But it's not a real need. It's a desire manufactured
Speaker 1: by comparison, by advertising, by the fear of falling behind.
Speaker 1: Epicurus said there are three fundamental types of desire The
Speaker 1: natural and necessary ones like eating when you have real
Speaker 1: hunger or resting when your body asks for it. These
Speaker 1: are simple to satisfy and bring complete relief. The natural
Speaker 1: but not necessary ones, like seeking comfort beyond the basics.
Speaker 1: These can be appreciated but shouldn't become the center of life.
Speaker 1: And those that are neither natural nor necessary, created by
Speaker 1: culture and comparison, These are never satisfied. The problem is
Speaker 1: the most people live chasing the third type. When you
Speaker 1: desire something natural and necessary, satisfaction is immediate. You drink
Speaker 1: water and the thirst passes. But when you desire something artificial,
Speaker 1: satisfaction never truly arrives. You buy that outfit and for
Speaker 1: a few days you feel good, but soon the feeling
Speaker 1: passes and you're already eyeing the next one. You reach
Speaker 1: a professional level and for a moment you feel fulfilled,
Speaker 1: but in no time you're already thinking about the next step.
Speaker 1: There's no real satiation. You just move from one desire
Speaker 1: to another, always chasing something that's ahead. Epicurus realized that
Speaker 1: these artificial desires are sophisticated and well constructed traps. They
Speaker 1: promise fulfillment, promise you'll finally feel complete, but deliver restlessness.
Speaker 1: They promise you'll finally feel fulfilled, but what you feel
Speaker 1: is an emptiness that asks for more, always more. And
Speaker 1: the worst part is you don't realize you're trapped in
Speaker 1: this vicious cycle. You think you're progressing, that you're improving
Speaker 1: your life, that you're conquering important and significant things, but
Speaker 1: you're just complicating yourself more and more. You're adding layers
Speaker 1: of dependence, of anxiety, of needs that never existed before
Speaker 1: and that will never be truly satisfied. Simplifying begins by
Speaker 1: questioning what you really need to live well, not in
Speaker 1: the abstract philosophical sense, but in the concrete, practical, day
Speaker 1: to day sense. Do you need five pairs of shoes
Speaker 1: or do you need one that works well, that's comfortable,
Speaker 1: and that lasts. Do you need an enormous house with
Speaker 1: rooms you never use, or do you need a place
Speaker 1: that shelters you with real comfort and without suffocating you
Speaker 1: with endless debts and constant maintenance. Do you need constant
Speaker 1: validation on social media or do you need inner peace
Speaker 1: and true connections with few people who really matter and
Speaker 1: who truly know you. The difference between these answers determines
Speaker 1: the weight of your life very directly. It determines whether
Speaker 1: you wake up every day carrying a heavy and invisible burden,
Speaker 1: or whether you wake up light with clarity about what
Speaker 1: really matters. Epicurus wasn't preaching poverty or extreme asceticism. He
Speaker 1: himself appreciated simple pleasures and encouraged his friends to do
Speaker 1: the same. But he was pointing to the trap of
Speaker 1: chasing things that never bring what they promise. He was
Speaker 1: showing that most of your desires aren't yours. They are implanted, conditioned,
Speaker 1: manufactured by external forces that profit from your dissatisfaction. And
Speaker 1: as long as you don't see this, you'll keep chasing, accumulating,
Speaker 1: complicating yourself and wondering why you don't feel free, why
Speaker 1: you don't feel at peace. The distinction between pleasure and
Speaker 1: excess is absolutely central in Epicurean philosophy. Pleasure, for Epicurus
Speaker 1: isn't exaggeration, isn't extreme intensity, isn't overwhelming sensation. It's the
Speaker 1: absence of pain and disturbance. When you're without hunger, without thirst,
Speaker 1: without fear, without anxiety, without physical or emotional pain, you're
Speaker 1: in a state of true pleasure. This is the pleasure
Speaker 1: that Epicurus called pleasure at rest. It's what you feel
Speaker 1: when you're at peace. It's not a euphoria that passes quickly.
Speaker 1: It's a stable state of well being that you can
Speaker 1: access at any moment, as long as your basic needs
Speaker 1: are met and you're not disturbed by impossible desires. But
Speaker 1: modern society has completely inverted this understanding. Pleasure became synonymous
Speaker 1: with intensity, with excess, with extreme sensation that needs to
Speaker 1: be constantly renewed. You're bombarded with the idea that living
Speaker 1: well is having extraordinary experiences all the time, exotic trips,
Speaker 1: intense parties, constant consumption, entertainment without pause, and this creates
Speaker 1: an unsustainable pattern. You start to think that if you're
Speaker 1: not feeling something in tense, then you're not really living,
Speaker 1: and then you lose the capacity to appreciate what's simple
Speaker 1: and stable. You lose the ability to be at peace
Speaker 1: without needing constant external stimuli. Excess promises pleasure but delivers restlessness.
Speaker 1: When you eat too much, you don't feel better. You
Speaker 1: feel heavy, uncomfortable, regretful. When you buy too much, you
Speaker 1: don't feel more fulfilled, You feel anxious about the bills,
Speaker 1: confused by the choices, suffocated by an accumulation of things
Speaker 1: that bring no real meaning. When you seek too much recognition,
Speaker 1: expose your life too much, perform too much for others,
Speaker 1: you don't feel more secure. You feel empty, dependent on
Speaker 1: others approval, constantly worried about what others think. The pleasure
Speaker 1: of excess is fleeting. It passes quickly and leaves a
Speaker 1: kind of emotional hangover. You feel the emptiness you were
Speaker 1: trying to fill, and now it's bigger because you spent energy,
Speaker 1: time and resources chasing something that couldn't truly satisfy you.
Speaker 1: But the pleasure of simplicity is stable and lasting. It
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be constantly renewed because it doesn't wear out.
Speaker 1: An honest conversation with a true friend satisfies you in
Speaker 1: a way that a party full of people you barely
Speaker 1: know will never satisfy. A simple meal made with attention,
Speaker 1: where you really taste the flavor and appreciate the food,
Speaker 1: nourishes you more deeply than an expensive banquet where you
Speaker 1: eat without paying attention. A moment of silence, where you
Speaker 1: breathe and realize you're okay, brings you more peace than
Speaker 1: a schedule packed with commitments that leave you exhausted and scattered.
Speaker 1: The more artificial your desires are, the more you enslave yourself.
Speaker 1: Because these desires are never satisfied. They multiply. You buy
Speaker 1: expensive clothes and soon want another. You reach a professional
Speaker 1: status and soon want a bigger one. You post a
Speaker 1: photo that gets many likes, and soon you're thinking about
Speaker 1: the next one. There's no end, and you keep thinking
Speaker 1: you're living well, that you're progressing, that you're conquering important things,
Speaker 1: But you're just running on a treadmill that leads nowhere.
Speaker 1: Modern society has created entire systems to manufacture desires. You
Speaker 1: open your phone and receive stimuli calculated to awaken the
Speaker 1: sensation that you're missing something important. You see people living
Speaker 1: lives that seem perfect and start to think yours is insufficient.
Speaker 1: But these are edited versions of reality. You're comparing your
Speaker 1: real life with others' performances, and in that unfair comparison,
Speaker 1: you always lose. The freedom that's born from moderation isn't repression.
Speaker 1: It's not you depriving yourself of good things through blind
Speaker 1: discipline or some ascetic ideal that denies life. Its emotional
Speaker 1: intelligence applied in daily life. Moderation is knowing when to stop.
Speaker 1: It's understanding that more isn't automatically better, that there's an
Speaker 1: optimal point, and that surpassing it brings more harm than benefit.
Speaker 1: It's realizing that less is generally enough, and that enough
Speaker 1: is a much better and more stable state than excess.
Speaker 1: Whoever desires less suffers less. This is a simple, direct equation,
Speaker 1: but extremely difficult to accept in a culture that teaches
Speaker 1: you that desiring without stopping is a sign of vitality,
Speaker 1: of ambition, that you're really living intensely. But epicurus show
Speaker 1: that desiring too much is a sign of internal confusion.
Speaker 1: When you desire without stopping, when you're always chasing the
Speaker 1: next thing without even knowing why, you're confused about what
Speaker 1: really matters in your life. You've lost the thread. You
Speaker 1: no longer know why you're doing what you're doing. You're
Speaker 1: just following the flow, responding to external stimuli, chasing what
Speaker 1: everyone chases because that's what's expected. And in this endless race,
Speaker 1: you lose your freedom because you're not consciously choosing, you're
Speaker 1: just reacting, just being carried along. Moderation doesn't mean never
Speaker 1: having pleasure. It means knowing where the limit is between
Speaker 1: real pleasure and suffering disguised as pleasure. You can eat
Speaker 1: well without eating too much. You can have comfort without
Speaker 1: living in exaggeration. You can have friends without needing to
Speaker 1: impress everyone. You can have a good life without needing
Speaker 1: to show off, without needing to prove anything to anyone.
Speaker 1: Moderation puts you in control. You consciously choose what enters
Speaker 1: your life. It's not advertising that chooses for you. It's
Speaker 1: not others opinions. It's not the fear of falling behind.
Speaker 1: It's you, with clarity, with discernment, with emotional intelligence. Many
Speaker 1: desires are borne from fear. Fear of lacking, fear of losing,
Speaker 1: fear of not belonging, fear of being invisible, fear of
Speaker 1: being considered inferior. You buy things you don't need because
Speaker 1: you're afraid of falling behind, of seeming less than others,
Speaker 1: of being judged as someone who didn't make it. You
Speaker 1: accumulate because you're afraid of not having in the future,
Speaker 1: even though you already have more than you need now.
Speaker 1: You seek status, recognition, constant validation because you're afraid of
Speaker 1: being invisible. Of not mattering, of being forgotten. Epicurus realize
Speaker 1: that fear is the invisible motor behind much of consumption
Speaker 1: and the incessant search for more, and this fear usually
Speaker 1: isn't based on real threats, but on social constructions about
Speaker 1: what it means to have value. Simplifying is dismantling that fear.
Speaker 1: It's looking at it honestly and asking if it's really
Speaker 1: based on something concrete, or if it's just a construction
Speaker 1: of your mind fed by unfair comparisons. Most of the time,
Speaker 1: the fear isn't real. It's inflated, exaggerated, created by constant
Speaker 1: comparison and lack of clarity about what you really need
Speaker 1: to live well. You're afraid of not having enough money,
Speaker 1: but enough for what to maintain a standard that you yourself
Speaker 1: created or that was imposed from outside. You're afraid of
Speaker 1: being judged, but by whom, by people whose opinion really matters,
Speaker 1: or by an abstract mass of expectations that you don't
Speaker 1: even know where they come from. When you simplify your needs,
Speaker 1: when you reduce what's really essential, you realize the fear
Speaker 1: was disproportionate. You don't need as much as you thought,
Speaker 1: and When you stop needing so much, you stop being
Speaker 1: afraid of losing, you can face changes with more serenity.
Speaker 1: You can deal with losses without feeling your life has
Speaker 1: collapsed because your life isn't built on fragile things that
Speaker 1: can disappear at any moment. This is one of the
Speaker 1: most profound forms of freedom. You don't depend on external
Speaker 1: circumstances to be well. You're not at the mercy of
Speaker 1: the market, of other's opinions, of economic changes, of life's
Speaker 1: twists and turns. You're well because you built a life
Speaker 1: that doesn't demand the impot possible from you, a life
Speaker 1: you can sustain with what you have, with who you are,
Speaker 1: without needing to sell yourself, without needing to constantly perform,
Speaker 1: without needing to pretend to be someone you're not. For Epicurus,
Speaker 1: freedom is living without constant disturbance. He called this state ataraxia.
Speaker 1: It's not happiness in the sense of permanent euphoria. It's
Speaker 1: not always being joyful, always excited, always at the peak
Speaker 1: of emotion. It's tranquility. It's the absence of internal agitation.
Speaker 1: It's waking up without that feeling of desperate urgency, without
Speaker 1: the mental list of everything you need to do, have
Speaker 1: be it's sleeping without your mind racing thinking about everything.
Speaker 1: You don't have everything you need to do, everything that
Speaker 1: could go wrong. And simplicity creates this state of deep
Speaker 1: calm very directly, because when you have few real needs,
Speaker 1: you have few genuine reasons to worry. Your life doesn't
Speaker 1: depend on a thousand things going right. At the same time,
Speaker 1: when you don't depend on a thousand things to be well,
Speaker 1: you're well almost always. You're not always running after something
Speaker 1: that's missing. You're not always afraid of losing what you have.
Speaker 1: You're not always comparing yourself, always judging yourself insufficient, always
Speaker 1: thinking your life should be different. You're present, lucid, at peace.
Speaker 1: And this only happens when you simplify your choices, when
Speaker 1: you stop complicating your own life with desires that aren't yours,
Speaker 1: with needs that were implanted from outside, with expectations you
Speaker 1: never questioned. Ataraxia isn't passivity or resignation. You continue living, working, relating,
Speaker 1: seeking things that make sense to you, but you do
Speaker 1: it without the weight of constant anxiety, without the feeling
Speaker 1: that you're always late, always losing, always insufficient. You have
Speaker 1: clarity about what really matters, and this clarity gives you
Speaker 1: an emotional stability that doesn't depend on external circumstances. You
Speaker 1: can deal with changes, with losses, with frustrations, because your
Speaker 1: foundation isn't in fragile things. It's in something simple, solid
Speaker 1: that you can carry with you in any situation. It's
Speaker 1: a piece you built from the inside out, not something
Speaker 1: you try to capture from the outside in. The less
Speaker 1: you need, the less you depend. Dependence is a silent
Speaker 1: and insidious form of prison. You depend on your salary,
Speaker 1: so you accept humiliating situations at work because you're afraid
Speaker 1: of losing your income. You depend on others' opinions, so
Speaker 1: you live performing, pretending, hiding who you really are. You
Speaker 1: depend on constant validation, so you're always exposed, always vulnerable
Speaker 1: to judgment, always worried about what others think. You depend
Speaker 1: on a high standard of living, so you can't leave
Speaker 1: a job that drains You can't change cities, can't make
Speaker 1: choices that make sense emotionally but don't make sense financially
Speaker 1: within that standard. And every time you depend, you lose
Speaker 1: a piece of your freedom. You get trapped not by
Speaker 1: visible chains, but by bonds you created yourself without realizing
Speaker 1: they're psychological, emotional financial bonds. You got use to a
Speaker 1: certain standard, and now you can't imagine living any other way.
Speaker 1: You got use to a certain validation and now you
Speaker 1: need it to feel whole. You got use to a
Speaker 1: certain level of comfort, and now you're afraid of losing it.
Speaker 1: And each of these dependencies makes you less free, less
Speaker 1: capable of making choices based on what makes sense for you.
Speaker 1: Epicure saw that simplicity reduces unnecessary bonds directly and concretely.
Speaker 1: When you need little. You can live well in almost
Speaker 1: any situation. You can face changes without collapsing. You can
Speaker 1: deal with losses without feeling your life is over because
Speaker 1: your life isn't built on fragile things that can be
Speaker 1: taken from you at any moment. It's built on something
Speaker 1: simple and solid, on basic needs you can meet, on
Speaker 1: values you carry within you, on a clarity no one
Speaker 1: can take away. You're not at the mercy of circumstances.
Speaker 1: You have room to maneuver. You can make choices based
Speaker 1: on what makes sense for you, not just on what
Speaker 1: keeps you tied to an unsustainable standard that has taken
Speaker 1: root in your life. This doesn't mean isolation or escape
Speaker 1: from society. It means real autonomy. You're not at the
Speaker 1: mercy of external forces. You can choose to stay in
Speaker 1: a job or leave because you're not trapped by a
Speaker 1: standard of living that requires you to stay there at
Speaker 1: any cost. You can truly choose your friendships without fear
Speaker 1: of being alone. Because you don't depend on constant approval
Speaker 1: to feel good. You can change cities, change course, start
Speaker 1: over because your needs are light and portable. You don't
Speaker 1: need an enormous infrastructure to be well. You carry the
Speaker 1: essential within you. The less you need, the freer you
Speaker 1: are to move, to change, to experiment, to refuse what
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense, to say no, to choose. And this
Speaker 1: is the freedom that really matters, not the theoretical freedom
Speaker 1: of being able to do anything, but the concrete freedom
Speaker 1: of being able to make choices that are aligned with
Speaker 1: who you really are, with what you really value, without
Speaker 1: being trapped by dependencies you created yourself without realizing. Epicurus
Speaker 1: valued bread, water, friendship, and silence not because he was
Speaker 1: ascetic or because he despised pleasure, but because he realized
Speaker 1: something fundamental about the nature of human satisfaction. Simple pleasure
Speaker 1: is stable. Excessive pleasure is unstable. When you depend on
Speaker 1: extreme experiences, on intense sensations, on constant consumption to feel good,
Speaker 1: you're always chasing the next dose. You can't be at peace.
Speaker 1: You're always restless, always needing more, always thinking what you
Speaker 1: have isn't enough. But when you learn to appreciate the simple,
Speaker 1: you have access to pleasure all the time. A conscious
Speaker 1: walk where you pay attention to the movement of your body,
Speaker 1: to the air entering your lungs, to the sensation of
Speaker 1: being alive. An honest conversation where you really listen and
Speaker 1: are heard. A moment of silence where you just breathe
Speaker 1: and realize you're okay. These things cost nothing and are
Speaker 1: always available. You don't need to plan, you don't need
Speaker 1: to pay, you don't need to wait for the right opportunity.
Speaker 1: The pleasure of simple things is deeply underestimated in a
Speaker 1: culture obsessed with intensity. Society teaches you to seek the extraordinary.
Speaker 1: It teaches you that living well is accumulating remarkable experiences,
Speaker 1: is always doing something impressive, is having stories to tell,
Speaker 1: photos to post achievements to show off. But the extraordinary
Speaker 1: tires you out. It demands constant effort, elaborate planning, money,
Speaker 1: energy you don't always have, and in the end, it
Speaker 1: often disappoints because you created expectations so high that reality
Speaker 1: can't meet them. You come back from an expensive trip
Speaker 1: and soon you're thinking about the next one because the
Speaker 1: experience didn't fill the emptiness you thought it would fill.
Speaker 1: You buy something you've wanted for months, and the satisfaction
Speaker 1: lasts a few days. But the simple never disappoints because
Speaker 1: you don't place absurd expectations on it. You just appreciate
Speaker 1: without creating a giant mental event around it. And in
Speaker 1: the appreciation of the simple, you find a satisfaction that
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be constantly renewed, that doesn't depend on
Speaker 1: perfect circumstances. You don't need to travel to the other
Speaker 1: side of the world to feel peace. You can feel
Speaker 1: peace on a walk in the park near your house,
Speaker 1: observing the trees, feeling the sun on your skin. You
Speaker 1: don't need an expensive restaurant meal to feel pleasure. You
Speaker 1: can feel pleasure in a simple dish made with attension,
Speaker 1: eaten with awareness, appreciating each flavor. You don't need a
Speaker 1: thousand friends to feel connected. You can feel deeply connected
Speaker 1: with two or three people who really know you and
Speaker 1: accept you as you are, without judgments, without performances. The
Speaker 1: illusion that more choices bring happiness is one of the
Speaker 1: great traps of modernity. You think having fifty coffee options
Speaker 1: on the menu makes you freer, more satisfied, but actually
Speaker 1: it paralyzes you. You waste time deciding, become anxious about
Speaker 1: the choice, regret it later, keep thinking if the other
Speaker 1: option would have been better. Many choices confuse, tire, and
Speaker 1: frustrate because each choice requires mental energy, and when you
Speaker 1: have too many choices, you exhaust your capacity to decide well.
Speaker 1: You end up in a state of analysis paralysis, unable
Speaker 1: to move forward. Or you choose impulsively just to end
Speaker 1: the decision, and then you keep ruminating about whether you
Speaker 1: choose right. Simple choices relief the mind and give you
Speaker 1: back energy for what really matters. Epicurus didn't live in
Speaker 1: the digital age, but he would perfectly understand the modern problem.
Speaker 1: You have access to infinite options, infinite comparisons, infinite possible paths,
Speaker 1: and this doesn't liberate you. It imprisons you in perpetual
Speaker 1: dissatisfaction because there's always another option you didn't explore another
Speaker 1: path that might have been better, another version of life
Speaker 1: that seems more interesting. When you simplify your choices, you
Speaker 1: escape this trap. You choose what works for you and
Speaker 1: move forward, without infinite rumination, without constant comparison, without that
Speaker 1: feeling that you could always have chosen better. You make
Speaker 1: conscious choices based on what really matters to you, not
Speaker 1: on what seems impressive, not on what everyone's doing, not
Speaker 1: on what algorithms push at you. And when you simplify
Speaker 1: like this, your mind rests. You're not always in internal conflict,
Speaker 1: always questioning yourself, always thinking you should be doing something else.
Speaker 1: You're present in what you chose, truly living, not just
Speaker 1: navigating infinite possibilities. Simplicity as an antidote to anxiety is
Speaker 1: absolutely concrete and practical. It's not abstract theory. Anxiety grows
Speaker 1: when desires multiply out of control, when demands pile up
Speaker 1: one on top of another, When you're trying to do
Speaker 1: ten things at once and can't do any of them
Speaker 1: well with attention and presence. You want ten different things,
Speaker 1: need to be in three places at once, have to
Speaker 1: respond to fifteen urgent demands. You're always late, always owing
Speaker 1: explanations always insufficient. Your mind can't handle this overload. It
Speaker 1: wasn't made for this, no human mind was. Simplifying is
Speaker 1: reducing internal noise deliberately and consciously. It's choosing fewer things,
Speaker 1: but choosing well. It's having fewer commitments, but commitments that
Speaker 1: really matter to you and that makes sense with your values.
Speaker 1: It's having fewer goals, but goals that make sense with
Speaker 1: who you are and with what you really value in life.
Speaker 1: It's saying no to what's not essential, even when there's
Speaker 1: external pressure for you to say yes, even when everyone
Speaker 1: around you is saying yes. And this isn't selfishness, it's
Speaker 1: self preservation. It's practical intelligence. It's you recognizing you have
Speaker 1: human limits and that respecting these limits is essential for
Speaker 1: you to be able to live well, function well, be
Speaker 1: truly present. When you simplify, your mind truly rests. You're
Speaker 1: not always on maximum alert, always chasing, always worried about
Speaker 1: a thousand things at once. You're present, and presence is
Speaker 1: the direct opposite of anxiety. Anxiety is being mentally in
Speaker 1: the future, worried about what could go wrong, about what
Speaker 1: you won't be able to do, about what will be missing,
Speaker 1: presence is being here now, dealing with what's real in
Speaker 1: this moment, and what's real when simplified, is generally manageable.
Speaker 1: You can handle it, you can breathe, you can be okay.
Speaker 1: For Epicurus, friendship is more valuable than status or wealth.
Speaker 1: True friendship is an essential good, not an accessory. It's
Speaker 1: not something you seek after you've achieved everything else, after
Speaker 1: you've become rich, famous, successful. It's what sustains the good
Speaker 1: life from the beginning. It's what gives you emotional security, acceptance,
Speaker 1: real belonging, and true friendship is simple. It doesn't require
Speaker 1: elaborate performances. It doesn't require you to be different from
Speaker 1: who you are. It accepts you, strengthens you, gives you
Speaker 1: a solid foundation to deal with life's difficulties. Simple relationships
Speaker 1: strength and emotional freedom in profound ways. When you have
Speaker 1: real friends, people who truly know you and accept you
Speaker 1: as you are, you don't need validation from strangers. When
Speaker 1: you have deep connections with some people, you don't need
Speaker 1: a thousand superficial connections. You can have a simple, focused,
Speaker 1: meaningful social life. Epicurus created a community based on friendship,
Speaker 1: not on rigid hierarchy. Not on internal competition, not on
Speaker 1: status or power, but on genuine affection, on mutual respect,
Speaker 1: on reciprocal care. And this community gave him and his
Speaker 1: friends a solid foundation to live well, to face difficulties,
Speaker 1: to support each other, because life is lighter when you're
Speaker 1: not alone facing everything. But it's also important that you're
Speaker 1: not surrounded by relationships that drain your energy, that demand
Speaker 1: constant performances, that make you feel inadequate or in competition.
Speaker 1: The mistake of postponing life is extremely common and deeply destructive.
Speaker 1: You think you'll live well when you have more money,
Speaker 1: more recognition, more achievements, when you finally reach that goal
Speaker 1: you've been chasing for so long, when you get that promotion,
Speaker 1: that house, that ideal relationship. But that moment never truly arrives,
Speaker 1: because when you reach a goal, you're already thinking about
Speaker 1: the next one. The brain quickly adapts to achievements, and
Speaker 1: soon they become the new normal. There's always a next step.
Speaker 1: There's always something more you could have that you should
Speaker 1: seek that would finally make you feel complete, fulfilled enough.
Speaker 1: Always seeking more makes life suspended in the future. You're
Speaker 1: never really living, you're always preparing to live. Always postponing,
Speaker 1: always thinking the good life is just ahead, after the
Speaker 1: next achievement, after the next goal is reached, and the
Speaker 1: years pass, and you realize you spent your whole life
Speaker 1: chasing something that never arrived because you never stopped to
Speaker 1: really live what you had. You never appreciated the present.
Speaker 1: You never gave yourself permission to be satisfied with enough.
Speaker 1: You were always looking ahead, always dissatisfied, always thinking something
Speaker 1: fundamental was missing. Simplicity returns the present very concretely. When
Speaker 1: you simplify your needs, when you reduce your desires to
Speaker 1: what's really essential, you realize you already have enough. You
Speaker 1: can live well now. You don't need to wait for
Speaker 1: some future achievement that may never come. You don't need
Speaker 1: to accumulate more things, more money, more recognition. You're already
Speaker 1: in a position to live a good life. Epicurus taught
Speaker 1: that the good life isn't grandiose in the sense of
Speaker 1: being spectacular, extraordinary, impressive to others. It's present, simple, habitable
Speaker 1: for you, and you have access to it now, not
Speaker 1: in some distant future, not after you become someone different. Now,
Speaker 1: being who you are with what, you have the freedom
Speaker 1: not to compete is rare and valuable. Comparison is born
Speaker 1: from inflated desires, from artificial needs, from a culture that
Speaker 1: teaches you that you only have value if you're better
Speaker 1: than others. You look to the side and feel your behind,
Speaker 1: that you're losing, that you're not enough. You see someone
Speaker 1: with more success, more money, more recognition, and feel your
Speaker 1: life is wrong. But this only happens because you're measuring
Speaker 1: your life by standards that aren't yours. You're using external
Speaker 1: metrics to evaluate your worth. You're competing in a race
Speaker 1: you never chose to run. Simplifying is getting out of
Speaker 1: that race. It's understanding you're not competing. You're living, and
Speaker 1: living isn't a competition. There's no ranking of who's living better.
Speaker 1: There's no prize for who accumulates more, achieves more, impresses more.
Speaker 1: When you simplify, you stop obsessively looking to the sides.
Speaker 1: You look inward, and you realize that what really matters
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with what others are doing. It
Speaker 1: has to do with your peace, with your clarity, with
Speaker 1: your integrity, with you living in a way that makes
Speaker 1: sense for you, not for others. Expectation. You don't need
Speaker 1: to be the best at anything. You need to be well,
Speaker 1: and being well is a state that doesn't depend on comparison.
Speaker 1: It doesn't depend on you being superior to anyone. It
Speaker 1: depends on you having built a life that doesn't suffocate you,
Speaker 1: that doesn't exhaust you, that doesn't make you wake up
Speaker 1: every day with a feeling of inadequacy, a simple, clear,
Speaker 1: habitable life. True security comes from needing little. Whoever needs
Speaker 1: little doesn't live in constant fear. This is one of
Speaker 1: the most profound and stable forms of freedom that exists.
Speaker 1: You're not afraid of economic crises because your needs are
Speaker 1: modest and you can sustain them even in difficult times.
Speaker 1: You don't depend on everything going right all the time
Speaker 1: to be able to live. You're not afraid of losing
Speaker 1: status or recognition because you never depended on that to
Speaker 1: feel good about yourself, to have a sense of self worth.
Speaker 1: You're not afraid of external judgment because you built a
Speaker 1: life based on what really matters to you, not on
Speaker 1: what others excpt effect approve, or consider impressive. Epicurus realize
Speaker 1: something fundamental that most people still don't understand, and that
Speaker 1: goes against everything society teaches. Security doesn't come from having much.
Speaker 1: It comes from needing little. The more you need, the
Speaker 1: more vulnerable you are, more dependent on circumstances, more at
Speaker 1: the mercy of forces you don't control. When you need little,
Speaker 1: you're genuinely resilient. You adapt to changes without collapsing. You
Speaker 1: don't panic when things change, when the economy fluctuates, when
Speaker 1: plans don't work out, because your life doesn't depend on
Speaker 1: fragile circumstances. It doesn't depend on a stable market, on
Speaker 1: an always growing economy, on everything working out all the time.
Speaker 1: It's built on a solid and simple foundation, on needs
Speaker 1: you can meet in almost any situation. And this gives
Speaker 1: you an emotional and practical security that no amount of
Speaker 1: money or external achievements can truly give, because this security
Speaker 1: comes from within, not from without. Living simply isn't living
Speaker 1: with little. This is the great misconception that needs to
Speaker 1: be undone because many people reject simplicity, thinking it means
Speaker 1: deprivation or scarcity. Epicure shows that living simply is living
Speaker 1: with real quality, not with forced scarcity. You're not depriving
Speaker 1: yourself of good things. You're choosing well. You're separating the
Speaker 1: essential from the superfluous. With discernment, and when you do
Speaker 1: this with clarity and honesty, you realize the essential is
Speaker 1: abundant and accessible. You have time to do what matters
Speaker 1: because you're not always running after things that make no
Speaker 1: real difference. You have mental clarity because you're not overloaded
Speaker 1: with decisions, commitments, and possessions that drain your attention. You
Speaker 1: have presence because you're not always in the future chasing
Speaker 1: the next achievement. You have true connections because you chose
Speaker 1: relationships that nourish instead of accumulating in contact that just
Speaker 1: take up space. The simple life is rich and experiences
Speaker 1: that really matter and that leave deep marks on you.
Speaker 1: It's not full of things that impose weight without adding
Speaker 1: real meaning, that complicate without enriching. It's light but deep.
Speaker 1: You appreciate more because you're not distracted by excesses. Because
Speaker 1: your attention isn't fragmented among a thousand stimuli. You connect
Speaker 1: more deeply with people and moments because you're not performing
Speaker 1: all the time. You're not documenting everything for an imaginary audience.
Speaker 1: You truly rest because you're not always chasing the next achievement,
Speaker 1: the next goal, the next thing that will finally make
Speaker 1: you feel complete. You're already complete, You're already living, and
Speaker 1: this realization changes everything. The good life, in Epicurus's view,
Speaker 1: is quiet and sufficient. When your choices are simple, when
Speaker 1: your needs are clear and modest, life stops being a
Speaker 1: constant struggle and becomes habitable. You're not always in internal conflict,
Speaker 1: always divided, always questioning if you're on the right path.
Speaker 1: You're not always dissatisfied with what you have, always thinking
Speaker 1: something fundamental is missing. You're not always chasing something that's ahead,
Speaker 1: always postponing well being to a future that never arrives.
Speaker 1: You're at peace with what you have, with who you are,
Speaker 1: with the rhythm of your life. And this piece isn't
Speaker 1: passive or resigned. It's an active, conscious, chosen peace. Epicurus
Speaker 1: didn't promise life would be easy. He didn't deny there
Speaker 1: are real difficulties, painful losses, inevitable frustrations. But he promised
Speaker 1: that life could be tranquil, even amid difficulties. And tranquility
Speaker 1: comes from simplicity, not from incessant accumulation that leaves you
Speaker 1: always worried about losing what you have, not from achievement
Speaker 1: without pause that leaves you always exhausted, always insufficient, not
Speaker 1: from constant approval from others that leaves you always vulnerable,
Speaker 1: always dependent. It comes from you knowing what you really
Speaker 1: need to live well, and having the courage to live
Speaker 1: according to that, even when the culture around you pressures
Speaker 1: you to want more, to seek more, to never be satisfied,
Speaker 1: to never stop competing and comparing. The freedom Epicurus offers
Speaker 1: isn't the fantastical freedom of having everything, of being capable
Speaker 1: of everything, of never encountering limits. It's the concrete freedom
Speaker 1: of not needing everything. It's the freedom to choose with
Speaker 1: clarity and discernment. It's the freedom to live without paralyzing fear,
Speaker 1: without constant anxiety, without the feeling you're always missing something important.
Speaker 1: When you simplify your choices, when you reduce your needs
Speaker 1: to the essential, when you stop chasing desires that were
Speaker 1: never really yours, you free yourself not from responsibilities or
Speaker 1: from reality, but from illusions. And this is the freedom
Speaker 1: that truly transforms the quality of your life. The simpler
Speaker 1: your choices are, the freer you will be.