Seneca on effectiveness

In history, few philosophers have proven qualified to speak about effectiveness. They were disqualified by their economic, professional and social failure, or by their sheer ignorance of practical matters. #Seneca belongs to the opposite category. He is the archetype of the realistic, savvy, experienced thinker that has been everywhere and seen everything. The 118th Letter to Lucilius leads me to acknowledge the key importance of wisdom in life enjoyment. Unless we learn how to lead a proper life, we cannot achieve serenity and true #happiness. Seneca was in his sixties when he wrote the 118th Letter. He had lived for decades in Rome and in the countryside, and had seen people experiment with various approaches to happiness. For instance, he had witnessed the aristocrats in Rome and Naples attend shows and banquets each evening in their search for pleasure, but did those people grow happier as a result? Did they really enjoy life? Seneca considered their approach to happiness ineffective. Their search for short-term pleasures, argued Seneca, is bound to produce the opposite effect. Insecurity instead of stability. Anxiety instead of #serenity. Enslavement instead of freedom. Nor is a busy social life an effective recipe for happiness. In the times of Seneca, aristocrats would spend many hours each week on the Roman forum, exchanging news and gossiping. If they had lived in our century, they would have spent all those hours on social media. Seneca categorized their lifestyle as ineffective and wasteful because it does not fulfil the human need for philosophy. Dogs and cats can spend their days roaming and sleeping, but those activities are insufficient for human happiness. Effective living does not need to be expensive, said Seneca, because wisdom can be exercised without luxury. We can gain peace of mind without expensive hobbies, food and travel. We can live our life to the fullest if we make good choices, which more often than not, will prove simple and inexpensive. What are Seneca’s top recommendations for improving our personal effectiveness? Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/seneca-on-effectiveness/