Lovely story this from off the BBC News website…

Canadian couple give away millions in lottery winnings

A Canadian couple who won $10.9m (£6.7m) in lottery winnings in July say they have given away $10.2m of the prize to groups in their community.

Allen and Violet Large said they were plain country folks who needed no more than “what we’ve got”.

The two said they had donated about 98% of the cash after helping their family.

The elderly pair gave the money to churches, fire departments, cemeteries, the Red Cross and hospitals, where Ms Large has undergone cancer treatment.

“We haven’t bought one thing. That’s because there is nothing that we need,” Mr Large, 75, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mr Large, a retired welder from Canada’s Nova Scotia province, added that he and his wife were quite content with their 147-year-old home and everything else they already owned.

“You can’t buy happiness,” he said.

Who says there are no contented and simple living human beings in today’s world which is mostly pervaded with superficiality and materialism?

I’m just wondering, would you have done the same?

Read the biography of Epictetus

Click here to read ‘Stoic Advice from Epictetus on the Art of Living – Part 1′

More stoic lessons from Epictetus to help you learn how to improve and remain happy in life.

Read more…

For those who wish to complain for every little thing in their lives, please spare a thought for those who are less well off than yourself.

• Do you have a roof over your head?

• Do you get to eat three square meals a day?

• Do you have a nice warm bed to sleep in?

• Are you in constant danger from being killed violently because of war or internal conflict in your country?

• Are you in danger of losing everything you possess, including your family, because of a natural disaster?

If you can answer favourably to all the above questions, what right do you have to complain?

There are people, as you should all know by now, who have recently lost their home, possessions, and much more importantly, family in the Haiti earthquake. Read more…

Read the biography of Epictetus

I will be posting selected passages from Epictetus’ two books: ‘The Discourses’ and ‘The Handbook’; as he teaches us the wisdom of Stoicism that can be used as a self-help guide to living a good and happy life, as well as attaining a mind free of troubles.

I begin the series with two such passages of stoicism to help you attain a free and peaceful mind, as well as learning the virtues of contented living. Read more…

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common – this is my symphony.”

~ William Henry Channing

Read more…