Finished the book over a vacation in December.
The first part gave the historical context of Stoic philosophy while the second part focused on advice on applying Stoic philosophy in modern life. the gist of the "how to" i gathered is cultivating a mindset of gratitude when things go well and a keen awareness that good things may not last and should not be taken for granted. this applies to life circumstances and relations with other people. a lot of part two went into discussing how to deal with negative emotions, mostly by rationalising and acknowledging the circumstances as they are. i use acknowledge rather than accept because the overall tone was that of "do not rail against what is or cannot be changed, but acknowledge it and work on the areas that you have control over and move on". there is a chapter each on insults, grief, anger, exile, being banished to an old folk's home in old age and dying.