YEAR OF ZEN: WINTER: DAY 08

Q: What are humanity’s best qualities and which do you see in yourself (or do you need to work on)?

A: Human beings are endlessly fascinating because of the long list of possibilities between our polar extremes. The human qualities I admire the most include kindness, compassion, trust, benevolence, determination, fearlessness, and the often endless capacity to look for hope. Now, each of these has a darker shadow side and it is easy to lose yourself in hopelessness dwelling on them. But, I believe that more often than not a sizeable number of people will practice these better virtues, myself included. Entering a new year it is incumbent on leaning into this even more, including being willing to demonstrate two big ones I forgot: humility and forgiveness.