The twentieth of the month. You open your banking app and close it right away; at the checkout you add up your basket in your head and put something back on the shelf. Money worries are real worries; philosophy doesn't pay the rent. But this worry also carries hidden burdens: the shame of hardship and tying happiness to money. In this conversation we talk about Epicurus, who lived on barley bread and water in his garden in Athens and called a pot of cheese a feast: his way of sorting desires, and his happiness list without money – friends, freedom, and a life thought through.

📖 Sources in the video:
• Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 10.11: the simple table in the Garden and Epicurus's letter: "Send me a little pot of cheese, so that I may have a feast whenever I like."
• Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrines 29: desires that are natural and necessary, natural but unnecessary, and neither natural nor necessary.
• Epicurus, Principal Doctrines 27: "Of all the things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship."
• "Friends, freedom, and a life thought through" is a summary of Epicurus's view of happiness.
• Turkish proverb: "Stretch your feet to fit your quilt."

💬 What good thing did you enjoy today without money? Has your table ever been full while your pocket was empty? Share in the comments; no one is judged here.

Blessings, and a generous heart, my dear friend.