Magnanimity is not a common term. Many people do not recognize it when they hear it. But they know it immediately when it is explained, and most know it as one of the areas they can personally improve upon. For too many of us are quick to seek revenge, swift to criticize, fast to find fault, and speedy to get even. Yes, too many of us are slow to hold our tongues, slow to forgive, and even slower to forget. One of the leading reasons for a lack of magnanimity is what I call a scarcity mentality.
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Nurturing Relationships
Nurturing Relationships
To win in life means to give up the obsession of ‘who’s at fault’.
The key to painless growth is humility, which amounts to merely dropping pridefulness and pretense and accepting fallibility as a normal human characteristic of self and others. Continue reading
the more I am willing to understand and accept the realities in myself and in the other person, the more change seems to be stirred up
The more I am open to the realities in me and in the other person, the less do I find myself wishing to rush in to “fix things.” As I try to listen to myself and the experiencing going on in me, and the more I try to extend that same listening attitude to another person, the more respect I feel for the complex processes of life. So I become less and less inclined to hurry in to fix things, to set goals, to mold people, to manipulate and push them in the way that I would like them to go. I am much more content simply to be myself and to let another person be himself. Continue reading
when I can accept another person,then I am assisting him to become a person
I have found that truly to accept another person and his feelings is by no means an easy thing, any more than is understanding. Can I really permit another person to feel hostile toward me? Can I accept his anger as a real and legitimate part of himself? Can I accept him when he views life and its problems in a way quite different from mine? Can I accept him when he feels very positively toward me, admiring me and wanting to model himself after me? All this is involved in acceptance, and it does not come easy. Continue reading
Self Discovery and then Self Healing
Whether we are dealing with a student who is maladjusted, or a marriage which is skidding toward failure, or a war neurosis, the essentials of a therapeutic experience seem to be the same. Continue reading
Authenticity is a challenge, for all of us
Authenticity is a vastly overused term in today’s organizations, and may have lost its edge as a result. But it stands for something powerful and rare. If you think you’ve achieved it, you’re probably underestimating its meaning. For all but the rarest of great leaders, authenticity is an aspirational value. Authenticity is the currency of trust. We instinctively trust people who we deem to be real, genuine, and sincere. Continue reading
examine your relationships
“If you want to understand the nature of your soul and its level of development, examine your relationships, not only physical ties but the people you emulate at a heart level and who function as your role models. Continue reading
Integrity is a higher value than loyalty
Or better put, integrity is the highest form of loyalty. Integrity means being integrated or centered on principles not on people, organizations, or even family. You will find that the root of most issues that people are dealing with is “is it popular (acceptable, political), or is it right?” When we prioritize being loyal to a person or group over doing what we feel to be right, we lose integrity. Continue reading
Humility
Humility does not come easily for people brought up on bullet points and clear answers. For Americans in particular, who have raised pride and self-esteem to a high art, even the word ‘humility’ raises hackles. It is more acceptable – even expected – for Americans to sing their own praises. When Mohammad Ali was taken to task, chided for arrogance when he claimed he was “the greatest,” he said “It ain’t arrogant if you can do it!” Fifty years later, young Americans are still told this story by their sports coaches as they are encouraged to succeed. Maybe for winning at sports it’s not bad advice, but as a preparation for life in the messy uncertainties of the 21st century it has all the hallmarks of a neurotic response…..
It takes some discipline and practice to access one’s ignorance, to stay focused on the other person.
ONE TUSK 