When referring to my brother’s generosity I wrote that I believe generosity is among several of the most powerful human abilities. I’ve seen it time and again do its fabulous work.

Here are more of what I believe to be innate human capacities.

Exercised, they make us “more human.” Neglected or ignored, I believe they render us rather cold, even inhuman:

• The capacity to forgive even the most grievous offenses – yes, of course it’s hard, but NOT doing so may be even harder.
• The capacity for empathy – to see and understand, but of course, not necessarily agree with, the perspective of another, even that of an enemy.
• The capacity to influence for good (and, to influence for ill is bundled within the same set of human strengths). We have the power to influence – let’s hope it is used for good.
• The capacity to learn from mistakes and errors, and to learn that it is possible to not repeat them.
• The capacity to move up the brain and therefore allow ones self to think more objectively, engage in better long-term planning, and form the habit of responding rather than reacting.
• The capacity to listen more than to speak. If we listen we may actually learn something – when we speak we are usually repeating what we think we already know.
• The capacity to calm the ego rush – or the ability to see and understand that being right or recognized or winning doesn’t come close to the joy of learning to be loving.

Posted on November 30, 2017 at 10:32 am in Addictions, Anger, Blended families, Boundaries, Communication, Differentiation, Difficult Relationships, Family Systems Theory, Forgiveness, Friendship, Grace, Grief   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL