Stoicism 3 – Week 3: Life is short

Not yet trial-taught Not yet expert-reviewed

Before you start: this level 3 course deals with death and loss. If you are newly bereaved, seriously ill, or having thoughts of dying or harming yourself, please save the course for another time and see Get help now straight away.

This week: see where your time goes. For one day, log how you used each hour; then choose one thing that matters (people you love, health, learning, something you enjoy) and give it 30 minutes a day taken from something "superfluous".

Measurable goal: give at least 30 minutes a day to the thing you chose, on at least 5 of 7 days.

1. Traditional teaching

[Traditional teaching] Stoicism teaches that life is short, so the question worth asking is not how long we live but what we use our time for. In Letter 49, Seneca travels through Campania, misses his friend Lucilius, and realises that his own years have passed as if "but a moment ago".

Reading it in context

• In the second passage, Seneca speaks to philosophy as to a teacher: "Bring it to pass…", "Show me…". He is criticising time spent on useless word puzzles, and asking for lessons he can use in life.
• Right after this passage, Seneca asks to be told each night: "You may not wake again", and each morning: "You may not go to sleep again". This course does not practise those phrases: for many people they increase anxiety and make sleep harder.
• At the start of the letter, Seneca writes that familiar places, or the belongings of a friend who has died, can rouse a mourner’s grief again even after time has softened it. He describes this as a familiar experience, without criticism. Feeling sad when you remember someone who has died does not mean you are "not Stoic enough".
• "Something superfluous" is something you yourself feel is not worth your time, such as scrolling your phone for longer than you want. That is your own judgement, not the course’s.

2. What science finds

• [Verified] Twenty years of laboratory research on "terror management theory": a meta-analysis of 277 experiments found that when people were reminded of death, they defended their views and self-esteem more strongly, a moderate effect (r = 0.35). (Burke et al. 2010)
• [Verified] However, a large replication project in 17 laboratories with 1,550 people could not reproduce that classic finding under any condition. (Klein et al. 2022)
• [Inference] Science has not shown that thinking about death makes people live better or feel more at peace. This week’s exercise rests on Seneca’s teaching, not on scientific evidence; the practice focuses on how you use your time, not on thinking about death.

3. Practice for adults

About 30 minutes a day.

1. Slow reading (5 minutes). Read the second passage. Underline "upon the use we make of it".
2. Log one day (once, early in the week). Split one day into one-hour blocks. Note what you did in each hour. That evening mark: ✓ things that matter to you; ✗ things you feel were "superfluous".
3. Choose one thing that matters and one superfluous thing (5 minutes). For example: 30 minutes less scrolling, to read with your child, call your parents, or go for a walk.
4. But a moment ago (10 minutes, once this week). Seneca writes "it was but a moment ago that I sat, as a lad, in the school…". Write five lines starting "But a moment ago…" about stages of your own life. Then one line: "What I want to use my time for this year is…"
5. Spend 30 minutes on the thing you chose, every day.
6. Look back (5 minutes, evening). Note how many minutes you gave it, what got in the way, and what you will do differently tomorrow.

4. Kids' corner 6+

Game: "Is a minute long or short?" (5–10 minutes, with an adult)

1. The adult times 1 minute. The child sits still and waits, doing nothing. Ask: "Did that minute feel long or short?"
2. Time another minute, this time doing something the child enjoys (building, drawing, jumping). Ask again.
3. Say: "It was the same minute, but sometimes it feels long and sometimes short."
4. Finish with: "What would you like to spend your play time on tomorrow?"

Talk only about time in the day and about games. Do not talk about how long people live or about death.

5. Stop practising if

• You feel panic, have flashbacks of trauma, have a lasting sense that you or the world are "not real", lose sleep for several nights, or have thoughts of harming yourself or of dying.
• The thought "life is so short" makes you anxious or panicky instead of helping you choose. Then stop this week and talk to someone you trust.
• If you have a history of psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe PTSD, ask a doctor before practising for more than 20 minutes.
• If so, stop and see Get help now.

6. Foundation skills on daynentang

To turn your 30 minutes into a habit, daynentang has a lesson: Một việc nhỏ có ý nghĩa mỗi ngày (in Vietnamese).

7. Practice for today

Choose one superfluous thing and one thing that matters. Today, move 30 minutes from the first to the second.

Science sources

• Burke BL, Martens A, Faucher EH (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(2), 155–195. doi:10.1177/1088868309352321
• Klein RA, Cook CL, Ebersole CR, et al. (2022). Many Labs 4: Failure to replicate mortality salience effect with and without original author involvement. Collabra: Psychology, 8(1), 35271. doi:10.1525/collabra.35271