Does anyone remember learning about the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues? Here they are in case you forgot or are not familiar with them (I just cut and pasted this from Wikipedia because not many people click on the links according to my stats, so I thought I’d make it easy for you, skip over or click through if you’d like to read more):

 

 

Virtue	Latin	Gloss	(Vice)
Chastity	Castitas	Purity, knowledge, honesty, wisdom	Lust
Temperance	Temperantia	Self control, justice, honour, abstention	Gluttony
Charity	Caritas	Will, benevolence, generosity, sacrifice	Greed
Diligence	Industria	Persistence, effort, ethics, rectitude	Sloth
Patience	Patientia	Peace, mercy, ahimsa, sufferance	Wrath
Kindness	Humanitas	Satisfaction, loyalty, compassion, integrity	Envy
Humility	Humilitas	Bravery, modesty, reverence, altruism	Pride

 

 

So today I’d like to take a moment to discuss some human traits, in the spirit of the virtues and vices we are all encouraged to aspire to or avoid. They are in the same vein as the traditional sins and virtues, with a contemporary twist that makes more sense to me personally based on my own experiences. You don’t have to agree though.

 

Virtue	Synonyms	Defect	Synonyms
Resilience	Strength, flexibility, adaptability, hope, spirit, optimism, persistence	Defeatism	Victimization, blame, inflexibility, resignation, pessimism, despondency, fatalism, sloth
Creativity	Inspiration, ingenuity, resourcefulness, imagination, vision, originality, eccentricity	Ignorance	Impotence, incapacity, weakness, stagnation, destruction
Kindness	Charity, empathy, compassion, generosity, thoughtfulness, benevolence, altruism, concern	Malevolence	Greed, self-interest, cruelty, disinterest, malice, cruelty, viciousness, spitefulness, meanness
Honesty	Sincerity, candor, earnest, truthfulness, authenticity, straightforwardness, Openness,	Deceitfulness	Fraudulence, untruthfulness, lying, insincerity, manipulation, two-faced, mendacity, spuriousness
Integrity	Reliability, steadfastness, commitment, resoluteness, loyalty, dependability, faithfulness, consistency, trustworthiness	Corruption	Depravity, exploitation, fraudulence, fickleness, unreliability, shiftiness, frivolousness, flippancy
Morality	Decency, honor, virtuousness, scrupulousness, distinction, respectfulness	Amorality	Unscrupulousness, maliciousness, self-interest, vindictiveness, depravity
Humility	Modesty, unpretentiousness, self-efficacy, decorum, well-mannered, gentility, restraint, grace, graciousness	Arrogance	Conceit, pride, self-importance, smugness, immodesty, vanity, pomposity, disdain, condescension, aloofness, snobbery, haughtiness, douchebaggery,
Humour	Wit, comicality, cheerfulness, mirth, glee, joviality, merriment, bonhomie, joy, laughter, lightheartedness, wonder, delightfulness, blissfulness	Criticism/ Misery	Woe, dejection, desolation, wretchedness, judgment, melancholy, despair, gloom, pessimism, mean-spiritedness, cruelty

If you are still with me, let us unpack this for a bit.

 

We all have a bit of any or all of these traits in us. At any given time we can demonstrate a combination of many of the good and bad descriptors on this list.

 

The reason thinking about it and writing it down helped me, was I got a chance to see the words on my screen and ask myself honestly what I was demonstrating when making decisions or deciding how to feel about something.

 

So when something happens contrary to what I’d hoped, I can happily refer to my list of virtues and defects and decide if I want to be resilient or defeatist, or choose good humour rather than criticism.  I can take it as a learning curve or I can be bitter, and at 36 years of age, I am just barely smart enough after my many experiences to more often than not know which is which.

 

I’ll leave it there for today, as for me, even just reading the lists sporadically has given me pause and the impetus to curb my behaviour and act a little less rashly when things don’t go my way.  I’m printing both the old school and my amended versions of the list and posting them on the fridge as a quiet reminder to strive for a more virtuous existence.  Heaven knows I fall short, but I have less excuse for it when it is printed and staring me in the face as I reach for a midnight snack.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Dee