HomeAbout Blog Articles Curriculum Resource Directory Shop Facebook |
||||||||||||||||||
Download our FREE The Educating Parent Resource Directories today!
Plus... more FREE resources!
Support Groups: National SA VIC NSW QLD TAS ACT NT Looking for support, reassurance and information? |
Virtue and Character
James Barton reprinted with permission: first published in Metamorphosis: Tools for Transformation a weekly newsletter by Peter Shepard www.trans4mind.com Imagine driving a car. If the steering was misaligned and continued to pull you to the left or the right, or otherwise did not respond properly, then it would become a priority to get it fixed. Your character is far more valuable and useful to you than a car or other material object. It is natural and logical to direct some of your time, energy and attention towards the contemplation of your character. It is a principle of life that the more we study a subject the greater our knowledge and control of it grows. Let us then study character, which is at the root of all the world's problems and their solutions. All your thoughts, speech and actions (which greatly effect your circumstances) arise from the quality of your personality. Almost all personalities contain flaws and are "lopsided" to some degree. By lopsided I mean that some qualities are over extended whilst others are stunted, resulting in vices such as greed, cowardice and dishonesty, etc. Understanding and reclaiming natural virtue is at the heart of genuine self improvement. From now on, every time that you read an article about self improvement and personal success, see it in the light of the virtues. You will find that many, in effect, are describing various virtues such as bravery, persistance, spontaneity and patience, etc. When you appreciate this, you will gain a valuable overview of the whole subject of self improvement. A deep curiosity and love for the virtues will awaken. As your love and acceptence increases for the forgotten and repressed aspects of your character, they will re-integrate with you and again become available for your use. In terms of time and energy, it is much more "cost effective" (and more enjoyable) to increase your virtue than to try and force a behavior change in yourself. The increased virtue will naturally and beneficially influence a wide range of your behaviors. Some negative habits will disappear by themselves without the need for conscious effort. Dedicate a notebook to your study of the virtues. Write a list of as many virtues and vices as you can and explore how they are related to each other. You may be surprised to discover a universal pattern in them. Keep a record of the questions you have about the virtues and the insights that you gain from exploring those questions. What assumptions have you been holding about character and the virtues? Maybe some of your assumptions have been holding you back. Do not accept negative, self limiting beliefs from others who may have made absolutely no study of the subject. Instead find out for yourself with gentle persistance and a genuine, open minded curiosity. Some claim that there is a limit to character improvement and so then make no effort to improve. If you believe that there is a limit, then first reach it and then look again. You may find that the limits, which seemed so solid from a distance, melt away as you approach them. By focusing your attention on positive qualities you will be raising up your outlook on life and you will find that your character also raises up to greater levels of harmony. Examine your personality as if for the first time; try and look into deeper layers of yourself. The light of your attention will illuminate and bring to the surface many hidden treasures from within your nature. Author James Barton invites your valued comments, questions and criticism. Please visit VirtueScience.com : Character Improvement via the Virtues for more information. You may also be interested in his free ebook: " Inner Medicine " which contains new discoveries about the virtues along with practical techniques to improve character. To receive great articles like this regularly subscribe to Metamorphis through the www.trans4mind.com website. Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
|
and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.
The Educating Parent acknowledges the Traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Owners, the Custodians of Australia, and pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people viewing this website. Home education is a legal alternative Without revenue from advertising |
The opinions and articles included on this website are not necessarily those of Beverley Paine,
The Educating Parent, nor do they endorse or recommend products listed in contributed articles, pages, or advertisements on pages within this website.
Disclosure: Affiliate links are used on this site that take you to products or services outside of this site. Please review products and services completely prior to purchasing through these links. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question before purchasing or signing up. Always Learning Books, April Jermey assume no responsibility for those purchases or returns of products or services as a result of using these affiliate links.
If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about this site, please feel free to contact us.
Text and images on this site © All Rights Reserved 1999-2024.