Tag Archives: kindness

Bohemian

Bohemian: (adj) a person who has informal and unconventional social habits

Dictionary B

It took me years to understand that Bohemia begins two inches outside “the box.”

I have often been accused of Bohemian behavior simply because I question a misguided practice which long ago wore out its worthy welcome.

It’s remarkable that people would rather sustain the dead than risk birthing something squalling. Children are annoying, after all. It’s a very long time before they prove any value to society–and in that way, Bohemian ideas are similar to offspring.

Some are good and grow into delightful examples of wisdom and kindness.

Others are bad seed, pointing out our weaknesses and stupidities.

So I would like to give a counter-definition for Bohemian:

Bohemian is the next thing we’re experimenting with, which soon will be so common that we’ll be looking for something Bohemian.

 

Donate ButtonThank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix 

Jonathan’s Latest Book Release!

PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant

Click here to get your copy now!

PoHymn cover jon

 

 

Bless

Bless: (v) to invoke divine favor

Dictionary B

Somewhere in the jostling and bouncing between challenging and encouraging, we actually learn to bless people.

We rarely feel divine kindness merely by being challenged to achieve a code which lacks human sensitivity.

Nor are we truly blessed by only being encouraged to accept mediocre accomplishments as excellent.

I am human.

I need those around me to challenge me–and encourage me.

To do so, they must know my heart’s desire–what I really believe is valuable when I am completely stable and sane instead of drunken on my own excesses, or fearful within the boundaries of my insecurities.

God, Himself, cannot bless human beings without challenging and encouraging them. Yet the danger is that we will ping-pong our emotions between condemnation and adulation.

In the midst of every good deed, there’s a slip-up.

And also, in the presence of every disaster, there are pieces of truth which can be retained.

We become powerful when we learn how to bless.

To do so demands the juggling of challenge and encouragement.

 

Donate ButtonThank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix 

Jonathan’s Latest Book Release!

PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant

Click here to get your copy now!

PoHymn cover jon

 

 

Autonomy

Autonomy: (n) freedom from external control or influence; independence

The trouble with what I think is that it comes from my thoughts. dictionary with letter A

Very limited.

So over the years, I have pondered the difference between needing and wanting.

Living in a society that greatly believes in autonomy, I get tempted occasionally to consider that my information is enough to provide me success.

For after all, I don’t want to need anyone.

And even wanting seems to be clingy.

So the end result is that most individuals go along pretty well until they come across a problem that requires assistance, but instead they worked with their own ideas, leaving a gaping hole or a disaster.

At that point, you can either admit your mistake or you can be a true American and disguise it and lie about it. But suddenly you might find yourself with a microphone in your face as people ask you why you did this terrible deed and what caused you to think you could get by with it.

Ridiculous.

Here’s what I feel–I want to know myself well enough that I’m fully aware of my inventory of facts, so that when any situation comes up, I can either say, “I need no one else on this,” or “I want a buddy.”

I don’t want to be needy all the time, but I refuse to end up wanting because I’m afraid to admit my lack.

So here’s the three-step process which I use every day of my life when it comes to things that pop up in my pathway:

  1. Do I know anything whatsoever about what is confronting me?
  2. Of the little I do know, will my knowledge be enough to handle the difficulty?
  3. If not, who do I want to invite into my predicament to aid me?

That’s it.

Autonomy is wonderful if you know what you’re doing.

If you don’t, autonomy is that first step you take off the edge of the cliff … insisting that the angels should catch you.

 

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

*******************

NEW BOOK RELEASE BY JONATHAN RICHARD CRING

WITHIN

A meeting place for folks who know they’re human

 $3.99 plus $2.00 S&H

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

Buy Now Button

 

Automatic

Automatic: (adj) a device or process working by itself with little or no direct human control.dictionary with letter A

Racing to escape the wilderness of political correctness and stumbling into the jungle of free speech, let me state clearly for all time:  Being kind is not automatic.

Human beings are neither innately good or evil, but rather, born to be lazy. (I know this will disappoint Steppenwolf, who contended that we were “Born to be Wild,” but let the chips fall where they may.)

So if we’re going to pursue a quality life which frees us of the need to retaliate because we haven’t instigated an attack against anyone else, we must practice what is automatic. And what makes things automatic? They slip out without our permission.

If we had more time to think about them, we certainly would have picked a different approach. But because the abundance of our heart carried a certain venom, the mouth spit it out like a cobra.

So I am going to tell you what I think the three greatest virtues are in a human being:

  1. Kindness
  2. Good cheer
  3. Perseverance

So if you want to tap these virtues and make them become more automatic in your reactions, understand that kindness finds a resting place in our souls because we finally come to the conclusion that we don’t want to be treated like crap.

Yes, it’s true. I am not kind to people because I am so overflowing with heavenly goodness. I just don’t want others messing with me, so I don’t mess with them. Then I sweeten it a little bit with some gentleness, hoping to get some sugar back my way.

Secondly, serious people are always seriously in trouble. Because they are searching for a problem, they will quickly find one and then be overwhelmed by its dimensions.

This makes them a pain in the ass.

If you can’t add some humor to the situation, then basically…shut up.

And finally, perseverance is not something you can muster in the midst of the struggle. Rather, it’s the extra canteen of water you brought along because someone mentioned a trek through the desert.

In other words, you troubleshoot–considering some of the more unpleasant options and then simply prepare yourself aforehand for said trial. Then if these complexities do arrive, you are prepared to endure.

I am trying to get kindness, good cheer and perseverance to be automatic in my life in order to acquire two tremendous blessings:

I did my part.

So please leave me alone.

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

*******************

NEW BOOK RELEASE BY JONATHAN RICHARD CRING

WITHIN

A meeting place for folks who know they’re human

 $3.99 plus $2.00 S&H

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

$3.99 plus $2.00 Shipping & Handling

Buy Now Button

 

Assert

Assert: (v) to state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.dictionary with letter A

People certainly are more assertive than they used to be.

Sitting over a delicious breakfast of cereal this morning, my traveling partner asked me what I thought was different in our country since 2008.

I find that answer to be very simple: we have changed the default position of kindness to one of assertiveness.

We think it’s important to share our point, prove our point, defend our point and walk away from any conversation with our point not dulled.

So because of that, we have developed a rendition of the American culture and gospel of Jesus Christ mingled together which focuses on our own value to the detriment in consideration of others. It has happened so gradually that lots of people would take exception to this accusation.

But being assertive is not only risking being wrong, it is also cornering ourselves in what we have asserted, and makes us continue to stubbornly pursue ideas which may be ineffective.

So the politicians in our country assert that the problem is that people don’t vote, or that they have little concern for real issues, and that therefore, it is up to the politicians to guide the discussion and make the choices for the masses minus their involvement.

Religion spends so much time asserting either the sinfulness of mankind or our innate goodness that it fails to develop the truth which would make us free, which is that we are capable of good as we are also capable of evil.

And entertainment has no sense of responsibility for anything other than delivering a predictable round of art projects, which cause people to participate–unchanged.

I just don’t assert much anymore.

I think it’s important that the default position for dealing with human beings should be kindness, and that the default position for the work we do should be completion. Just those two things being in place would create a better country.

Because I can assert two definite truths in your direction:

  1. There is no law against kindness.
  2. And completing your work speaks for itself.

 

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Apoplectic

dictionary with letter A

Apoplectic (adj.) 1. informal overcome with anger. 2. dated relating to apoplexy (stroke).

If anger is a turd, then rage is a pile of manure. And if we were able to deal with our turds, we wouldn’t have to shovel our shit.

You see, that’s the problem.

Some sense of false kindness prevents us from speaking our hearts, causing us to be deceptive rather than forthcoming.

It doesn’t change the fact of what we feel. Choosing a gentle answer does not make us more gentle. It actually causes us to create a second storehouse, where we stockpile resentment instead of building up our barns of blessing.

It is impossible for me to live a blessed life if I’m pissed off–and the longer I stay pissed off, the less chance I have of ever satisfying the breach I’ve created in my own emotions and soul.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the driving habits of the American traveler. People who would normally appear rational lose all sense of dignity when they get behind the wheel of an automobile, because they feel they’re protected by armor, like a knight on a crusade to kill dragons. They become profane, horn-honkers and selfish intruders into the lives of other human movers.

Why? Because the anger that should have been dealt with days ago is now stinking up the joint.

There is one mission in discovering the value of human life: don’t be afraid to say what you feel … as long as you’re prepared to be wrong.

And since most people are not suited for such an admission of guilt, they would rather keep their feelings to themselves and maintain them in a chest of self-righteousness.

  • Rage is what kills.
  • Anger is what opens the door to communication.

If we allow ourselves to be transparent in our emotions, we will avoid the danger of rage.

Donate Button

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix