Porthole

Virtues

What is your favorite virtue? Give a few examples like kindness, cleanliness, tact, truth, generosity. Is your favorite one you possess, or one you simply admire in other people? Do you have a strategy to develop it yourself?

I became familiar with the Virtues Project over two decades ago. My friend Deana would have neighborhood children and adults discuss the various virtues (from the list that follows). At the end she would have everyone choose two rocks: one smooth stone with a virtue that they possessed and a rough one for one they needed to work on.

Me? I admire assertiveness. One I need to work on. It's all about having proper boundaries. Neither passive nor agressive. The Norwegians are good at this. The Costa Ricans? Not.

I'm friendly. The down side is I talk too much (see assertiveness and boundaries and tact). That said, I break the ice and bring people together. I'm a connector par excellance. But friendliness also can mean knowing how to be a friend. I do okay but could do better as I'm too self-involved at times.

Life's bruises have taught me some compassion. Still could do better though.

However, cleanliness is a struggle. I just don't take proper care of myself. My friend Bryan in CR gets concerned. And, I'm okay with clutter and detest cleaning, especially dusting. I did fine in Costa Rica in 2012 with sweeping and mopping and not cluttering. But in Montana? My strategy would be to hire someone to help me on a weekly basis... but I won't because I like to travel too much. I do keep the dishes clean and love a hot shower every day. Other than that? Don't ask.

A link: https://virtuesproject.com/#

A list of virtues:

assertiveness
caring
cleanliness
compassion
confidence
consideration
courage
courtesy
creativity
detachment
determination
enthusiasm
excellence
faithfulness
flexibility
forgiveness
friendliness
generosity

gentleness
helpfulness
honesty
honor
humility
idealism
joyfulness
justice
kindness
love
loyalty
mercy
moderation
modesty
obedience
orderliness
patience

peacefulness
prayerfulness
purposefulness
reliability
respect
responsibility
reverence
self-discipline
service
steadfastness
tact
thankfulness
tolerance
trust
trustworthiness
truthfulness
unity

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