Many people turn to the Bible for answers to their deep philosophical questions, moral quandaries, and guidance for how to live aligned in word and action.

As a person driven to face the obstacles in my path to overcome them, psychology and philosophy are the fields that best guide and enlighten me.

While it's true that I turn to my friends and siblings for advice and their opinions when I'm struggling, I am in constant conversation with some of my favorite Stoics and psychologists.

Here's my Philosophy posse: Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, and Rilke. While Rilke wasn’t a traditional Philosopher, Stoic philosophy profoundly influenced his notions of virtue.

Most people think of Stoicism as "emotionless," but this is outdated thinking. Put into today's parlance, Stoicism is based on rational thinking.

Psychologists teach anxious people to use evidence and rationality to manage emotional spin out.

Therefore, Stoicism isn't about eliminating emotion, but managing it.

And it's this aspect of Stoicism that is most helpful and applicable in daily life.

And I'm not alone. Albert Ellis developed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy upon Stoic principles.

For a refresher on CBT: How to Influence Your Thoughts and Finally Feel Better: Aaron Beck & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Unlike his contemporaries Marcus Aurelius and Seneca—both power players in the Roman Empire, Epictetus was born into slavery around 55 C.E. in what is now South Western Turkey and moved with his enslaver to Rome, where he studied (while still enslaved) with the Stoic teacher Gaius Musonius Rufus (who taught to live for virtue and not pleasure).

Epictetus believed that suffering results from mistaken beliefs about what is truly good. Many people invest in the wrong things or ways, preventing them from growth and true happiness.

Another way to say this is that suffering results from pushing back against what is true.

Epictetus spread his message to all people and also invested in living consciously. He believed that the way to be awake was to practice, to work on yourself daily. While he didn't seem to write anything of his own, one of his students, Arrian, wrote his lectures for a friend in painstaking detail. A collection of these lectures, known as the Discourses (or Diatribes), came out in eight volumes, but only four survived.

Manual (or Enchiridion) is a selection of excerpts from the Discourses and forms an essential summary of Epictetus' teachings. Modeled after military manuals, soldiers carried the manual into battles.

It's upon those remaining texts that A Manual for Living is based. In contemporized language, author Sharon Lebell summarizes his main ideas. This simple introductory guide reminds me of how to live a better life.

It lives on my nightstand.

Here is a sampling of this volume, which you can buy here.

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