Coaching practices for Perma and Aristotle
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Perma and Aristotle, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- On paper my life looks fine and I can’t point to anything that’s wrong, but I have this nagging sense it isn’t actually going well
- A close friend is going through something and I keep just reacting to the words they say rather than reading what they actually need underneath
- I’m great at efficiently knocking out whatever problem is in front of me, but I just looked up and realized all that competent problem-solving has been quietly carrying me away from the life I actually wanted
- I have plenty of people I grab drinks with or who are useful to know, but I’m realizing almost none of them are the kind of friend who actually knows my character and could call me on it
- I’m realizing how much of what I believe about myself and the world I just absorbed from somewhere and never actually checked against my own experience
Practices that may help
- Periodic eudaimonia audit: are you actually flourishing?
Periodically evaluate your life against the conditions Aristotle thought were necessary for genuine flourishing — not just your feelings about it.
Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue - Use close friendship as a moral laboratory
Cultivate deep friendships deliberately — they are the arena where practical wisdom is practiced and tested.
Phronesis: Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom - The Perennial Philosophy, Made Practical
The perennial philosophy, synthesized by Aldous Huxley from mystic and contemplative traditions across cultures, identifies a common inner core: a divine or ultimate ground underlying all existence, knowable through direct experience; an inner nature in humans capable of that knowing; and an ethics of love and compassion as the natural expression of that realization. It is not a scientific theory but a philosophical synthesis — its practices draw on contemplative traditions whose psychological effects have increasing observational and some experimental support. - Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity. - Keep the final end in view (telos check)
Before any significant action, ask: does this move me toward the life I’m trying to build, or away from it?
Phronesis: Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom - Cultivating friendships of virtue over pleasure or utility
Invest most deeply in friendships where mutual character development — not just enjoyment or usefulness — is the bond.
Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue - Prioritize direct experience over inherited belief
Test philosophical claims through personal practice rather than accepting them on authority.
The Perennial Philosophy, Made Practical - Building character through deliberate repetition
Choose one character quality you want to embody and perform one specific act of it daily until it no longer requires effort.
Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue - Finding the virtuous mean in a specific situation
Identify the excess and deficiency extremes in a situation and practise hitting the mean — the appropriate response — deliberately.
Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue - Phronesis: Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom
Phronesis is Aristotle’s term for practical wisdom — the cultivated ability to discern the right action in a particular situation, rather than applying rules mechanically. It develops through deliberate reflection on experience, not through reading principles alone.
Related concerns
- Aristotelian Eudaimonia Flourishing Through Virtue With My Partner
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity.
- Aristotle Philia
Cultivate deep friendships deliberately — they are the arena where practical wisdom is practiced and tested.
Use close friendship as a moral laboratory
- Theoria Aristotle
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity.
- Aristotelian Eudaimonia Flourishing Through Virtue After A Loss
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity.
- Aristotelian Eudaimonia Flourishing Through Virtue As A Caregiver
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity.
- Aristotelian Eudaimonia Flourishing Through Virtue At Work
Eudaimonia — often translated as "flourishing" or "the good life" — is Aristotle’s answer to what we ultimately aim at in living. It is not a feeling of pleasure but an active exercise of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life. The Nicomachean Ethics offers a precise system: character virtues are the mean between extremes, developed by practice, and exercised in genuinely social life. Most of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions align with contemporary wellbeing research on character, relationships, and meaningful activity.
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