Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books (mostly)

Absorbed, Weary, And Interested

Absorbed, Weary, And Interested

I can think of few things better, that one friend could say about another.

And I just love that line: “absorbed, weary and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort.”

May we all act in ways that are deserving of such words.

(Hint: It’s about losing yourself.)

Decades later, Langdon Gilkey, an American interned with Liddell, will offer a recollection: “Often in an evening I would see him bent over a chessboard or a model boat, or directing some sort of square dance—absorbed, weary and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort to capture the imagination of these penned-up youths. He was overflowing with good humour and love for life, and with enthusiasm and charm. It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known.”

-Alan Jacobs, The Year Of Our Lord 1943 (Amazon)

Character Is Praised

Character Is Praised

I love that when character is praised, that it works like magic.

Stop and think about that for a second.

I mean think about the power that you have, that we all have every day.

You can literally go out and speak words into someone’s life and change who they become.

It’s like some marvelous mystery of the universe that no one can quite put their finger on.

Children who received character praise were subsequently more generous. Of the children who were complimented for being helpful people, 45 percent gave craft materials to cheer up kids at a hospital two weeks later, compared with only 10 percent of the children who were commended for engaging in helpful behavior. When our character is praised, we internalize it as part of our identities. Instead of seeing ourselves as engaging in isolated moral acts, we start to develop a more unified self-concept as a moral person.

-Adam Grant, Originals

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