Stoic philosophy as practice

For the Stoic, doing philosophy meant practicing how to “live”: that is, how to live freely and consciously. Consciously, in that we pass beyond the limits of individuality, to recognize ourselves as a part of the reason-animated cosmos. Freely, in that we give up desiring that which does not depend on us and is beyond our control, so as to attach ourselves only to what depends on us: actions which are just and in conformity with reason.

Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, p.86