Control What You Can, Let Go Of The Rest — The Stoic Path To Inner Peace - by Samantha Touchais

COURSE

Control What You Can, Let Go Of The Rest — The Stoic Path To Inner Peace

With Samantha Touchais

What could a Roman emperor, a man born into slavery, and one of Rome's wealthiest statesmen possibly have in common? Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca each arrived — from completely different lives — at the same profound understanding of how to find peace in a mind that won't stop spinning, and over five days you'll meet all three and discover that Stoicism isn't the cold, emotionless philosophy you may have heard about, but a practical, deeply human one — offering tools you can use today to quiet the overthinking mind and find a peace that doesn't depend on circumstances going your way. Course Objectives & What You Can Expect By the end of this course, you will: Understand what Stoicism really means and discover why it isn't about suppressing your emotions or becoming detached. Learn to focus on what you can control while letting go of the need to control people, circumstances, and outcomes you cannot change. Discover practical tools for navigating difficult emotions, uncertainty, and life's challenges with greater calm and clarity. Explore the connection between Stoic wisdom and modern psychology, including contemporary approaches to emotional wellbeing. Develop greater resilience and inner peace by applying these timeless principles to your everyday life.


Meet your Teacher

Samantha Touchais is a meditation teacher and course creator with a background in mindfulness, personal development, and wellbeing. Through her own practice and years of exploring different approaches to living with greater awareness, she has developed a practical understanding of how ancient wisdom can be applied to the challenges of modern life. Her approach to Stoicism focuses on its practical teachings around perspective, resilience, self-awareness, and learning to distinguish between what can and cannot be controlled. She presents these ideas in an accessible and grounded way, helping students explore how Stoic principles can become part of everyday life.

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5 Days

8 students

5.0 stars

19 min / day

Acceptance

English


Lesson 1

The Surprising Truth About Stoicism

Before we explore any Stoic tools, we need to clear away a myth — the idea that Stoicism means suppressing emotion and feeling nothing. Today you'll meet the true philosophy behind the word: one built by an emperor, a slave, and a statesman, and rooted not in coldness but in compassion, self-awareness, and the radical idea that your inner peace is always, in some measure, a choice.

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Lesson 2

The Only Thing You Can Control

Meet Epictetus — born into slavery, with no control over almost anything in his life, who discovered one of the most liberating ideas in human thought: the dichotomy of control. Some things are within our power — our thoughts, judgments, and responses. Everything else is not. Today you'll learn why the overthinking mind spends most of its energy on things it cannot change, and what becomes possible when you redirect that energy toward the one thing that was always within your control.

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Lesson 3

We Suffer More In Imagination Than Reality

Meet Seneca — statesman, playwright, and advisor to Nero- who lived with everything he had constantly at risk of being taken away. From that precariousness, he wrote some of the most honest reflections on anxiety ever put to paper, centred on one striking truth: most suffering comes not from what actually happens, but from what we imagine might happen — and the body can't always tell the difference. Today you'll learn Seneca's three questions for interrupting anticipated suffering, and his gentle challenge to stop living in the regretted past or the feared future, and come back to now.

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Lesson 4

The Compassionate Stoic

Meet Marcus Aurelius — Emperor of Rome, the most powerful man in the ancient world, who each morning reminded himself that difficult people act from pain, fear, or mistaken judgment, not malice, and who wrote privately about patience, self-compassion, and our shared humanity. Today you'll discover the compassionate heart of Stoicism: the practice of extending to yourself the same understanding you'd offer someone you love, and the freeing recognition that everything — including whatever you're struggling with right now — is impermanent.

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Lesson 5

Make It Yours: A Daily Stoic Practice

Our final day brings the three gifts together — Epictetus's dichotomy of control, Seneca's return to the present moment, and Marcus Aurelius's compassion — into one simple daily practice: a two-minute morning intention, the Seneca Pause whenever the spiral starts, and a brief evening reflection. Today isn't about learning anything new. It's about choosing which of these practices you'll actually carry forward, so that what you've discovered these five days becomes something you live rather than something you once heard.

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5.0 (2)

Recent Reviews

KatieG

September 22, 2026

I didn’t come into this course totally unaware of stoic philosophy, due to other wonderful courses on Insight Timer about this topic, but my brain works by layering and re-visiting information and getting fresh perspectives, and so was drawn to take the course which did not disappoint! Distilling the wisdom of these 3 key Stoic leaders into doable practices was great. Plus also fun to hear more about the stories and backdrops of Epictetus, Seneca and Aristotle. So well done and thank you! 🙏🏼

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