Living for Pleasure – Emily Austin, PhD

Enrollment for my Design Your New Life in Retirement April Group is Open - Learn more __________________________ Planning for retirement? You'll need more than a vision for a great retirement. Start by honing your version of the good life. And you don't need to wait until you retire. Start living your version of the good life now. Emily Austin, Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest, shares her insights on what we can learn from Ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus about living with pleasure today, while planning prudently for the future. Her book poses the question: If we want happiness and pleasure so much, then why aren't we good at getting it yet? Get smarter on how you can prepare to retire happy and live with more joy now with this discussion of Epicurean philosophy. Emily Austin joins us from North Carolina. __________________________ Bio Emily A. Austin is Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Her scholarly work focuses on Ancient Greek theories of complex emotions, including the fear of death, grief, patriotism, and comedic malice. Austin grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and earned her doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis in 2009. In Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life, Emily Austin offers a lively, jargon-free tour of Epicurean strategies for diminishing anxiety, achieving satisfaction, and relishing joys. ____________________________ For More on Emily Austin, PhD Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life (Guides to the Good Life Series) ____________________________ Resolutions not working? Don’t give up on your goals. Get on track with a smarter way: Tiny Habits. _____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller Chatter & Your Inner Voice – Ethan Kross _____________________________ Wise Quotes On Lessons from Ancient Greek Philosophy & The Good Life "...I chose to write the book because I think ancient philosophy has stuff to offer people. And I think Epicureanism, in particular, hasn't received the attention it deserves - and it has a lot going for it. But one of the things about Ancient Greek philosophy is the reason people go back to it is that their central question was happiness. What is the good life? And Epicurus himself said philosophy is worthless unless it helps people live a good life. All this other stuff is useless unless it quiets the mind. And so, it's a timeless question and they have timeless answers. Sometimes it's just comforting to know that the answers are old. But they were also very counter-cultural. They really liked to shake things up. Greek philosophers were not just your normal people. They challenged people. And I think that even if you end up deciding, Oh, this isn't for me, they're asking such important questions about living that you have to figure out the answers. And so I think they're challenging the standard narratives - and people need that. They need to be kind of shaken up even if they think, Oh, that's not for me." On Not Delaying Joy "And Epictetus is often associated with this phrase, Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. And though he never said that, he does say why delay joy? We only get one life. And so even if you don't have a lot of time for joy now, it's really important to pursue it now and to get good at it. Whether that's in very small amounts of time or, or larger amounts of time, I think some  people who kind of take their retirement as they go in a certain way and that has a little bit to do with what they take to be the good life.