Virtues

This idea was born in my head when I was reading the book Labyrint světa a ráj srdce by Jan Amos Komenský. I realized, that to be a good person, one should have strong values by which one can operate in daily life. Without values, we are like a tornado. What can others expect from us? Will we be able to create something beautiful or will our lives be full of chaos? Virtues nurture order and order nurtures creation.

Yeah and I was also inspired by the cool statues of virtues in Kuks.

So here I would like to list virtues that I find good but maybe also unconventional and interesting.

Gratefulness

Throughout the past year or maybe longer I have used gratefulness as a source of happiness and meaning in my life. Without doubt, being grateful every day - by really naming concrete examples - improved the quality of my life greatly.

Why is it so? I think having such ritual, as thinking about things, that we are sincerely grateful for and naming them helps us also to get to know ourselves. If I really honestly tell myself a thing for which I am grateful, I know that the thing is aligned with my values. So even without having to define my values, I am getting a feel for them by concrete examples.

It is crucial to really be honest to yourself, when being grateful. Name the things that you really feel happy about deep inside. Don’t give up if nothing comes to your mind right away. Make this a habit before going to sleep and watch how it improves your life in the long run.

Focus and attention span

Especially nowadays, focus is under a constant threat from our digital surroundings. We are asked from the society to be available for communication constantly which disallows us to dig deeply into what we are currently doing.

But our mind is extremely powerful and can achieve wonderful things if we can just keep being focused and not lose attention fast. This is not an easy task. It really takes constant effort and being kind of a policeman for yourself. When you find yourself thinking about something totally out of context of the activity you should be doing, warn yourself, accept the fact that it happened and continue working.

An important part of this topic is attention towards others. When another person is talking to you or more people with you included in the recipients, you should put all your effort to not drift away with your thoughts. This is your responsibility and there is no excuse on ADHD or whatsoever. Everybody drifts away once in a while but you should really catch yourself doing that and make sure to get back on track right away.

In my experience, the most intelligent people I know are also the most attentive towards others. And also very attentive when reading or listening to anything.