THE TWELVE BASIC VIRTUES (PART 1)

1. HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

2. MORALITY AND ETHICS

3. LOVE,HOPE,FAITH AND BELIEF

4. SELF-DISCIPLINE

5. TRUSTWORTHINESS

6. FORGIVENESS

7. KINDNESS/GENTLENESS/CHEERFULNESS

8. HUMILITY

9. COURAGE

10. GOOD HABITS

11. PATIENCE

12. UNSELFISHNESS

1. HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

Truthfulness, integrity and goodness form the essence of manly character. He who possesses these qualities, along with sense of purpose, carries with him a power, which is irresistible. He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, under difficulty and misfortune. It is in misfortune that the character of the upright man shines forth brightest. When all else fails, he relies on his integrity and courage.-S. Smiles

Integrity is words and deeds is the backbone of character. Loyal adherence to truth is its most prominent characteristic. There is a truthfulness in action as well as in words, which is essential for uprightness of character.

We all know some very prominent and successful leaders who are not too meticulous when it comes to ethics. It is amazing how bright they are in some areas, how they can motivate people, but are still motivated by greed themselves. Greed does have a way of blurring and making fuzzy one’s ethics.

2. MORALITY & ETHICS

· Belief in high morals means having a personal philosophy based on the ability to know right from wrong. What we believe about right and wrong affects our thinking and shapes our character traits. Morals are a philosophy.

Practicing ethics are the high standards of honest and honorable dealings based on our morals. Ethics are a set of basic working tenets for life and business. How we act and what we do, our methods of functioning, and how we apply our morals is our ethical behavior. Ethics are application.

The stronger our behavior, the better leaders we become

-Sheila Murray

· If you make a list of words related to ethics, it would include morals, integrity, honesty, values, trust, duty, virtue, truth, decency, courage, prudence, loyalty, honor, goodness, fidelity, and conscience. Ethics represent actions based on a concept of right and wrong.

3. LOVE, HOPE, FAITH & BELIEF

· Hope and faith help you to walk with all men, both the saints and the sinners, and still remain the master of your own fate, the captain of your own soul! They keep your ego alert and active, yet humble and grateful.

· Faith in yourself and faith in God are the key to mastery of fear.

· The power of thought is the only thing over which any person has complete, unquestionable control – a fact so astounding that it connotes a close relationship between the mind of man and the universal mind of infinite intelligence, the connecting link between the two being faith.

· If there is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see, it is the language of love!

· There are too many counterfeit forms of love and too many people who say, “I love you because I need you” or “I love you because I want you”. Such possessive forms of love are not real. They seek to get something from the other person instead of giving something.-Robert Schuller

· Love is patient and kind, it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail.- New Testament

· To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.

· The person who has faith in God, even though his problem remains unchanged, shall indeed gain victory over it.

· Faith is indeed the greatest miracle-working power imaginable. Faith never fails a person – we fail when we give up on our faith. –Robert Schuller

· Sigmund Freud, the Ausurian founder of psychoqnalysis said that unless the personality has love, it sickeîs and dies. Love includes understa~ding, goodwill. and resðect for the divinity in the other person. The more love and goodwill you emanate and exude the more comes back to you.

· Love ant freedom go together – you cannot choose one and leave the other. A man who knows freedom is full of love, and a man who knows love is always willing to give freedom. If you cannot give freedom to the person you love, to whom can you give freedom? Giving freedom is nothing but trusting.

Freedom is an expression of love.

You see bird on the wing in the sun, in the sky, and it looks so beautiful. Attracted by its beauty, you can catch the bird and put it in a golden cage. Do you think it is the same bird? Superficially, yes, it is the same bird which was flying in the sky; but deep down it is not the same bird because where is its sky, where is its freedom?

This golden cage may be valuable to you; it is not valuable to the bird. For the bird, to be free in the sky is the only valuable thing in life. And the same is true about human beings.- OSHO

· Faith is the basis of all “miracles,” and all mysteries, which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science!

· Faith is the only known antidote for failure!

· Faith is the element, the “chemical” which, when mixed with prayer, gives one direct communication with infinite intelligence.

· Faith is the element, which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into spiritual equivalent.

· Faith is the only agency through which the cosmic force of infinite intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.

· Still another mental and spiritual medicine is that of hoe: “and now abide faith, hope, love.” Everyday, send down into your mind three great words – faith, hope, and love- and your health will be stimulated –Norman Vincent Peale

· In reality, sharing of affection, perfect relationships are as much an illusion as perfect love. Loving relationships do not just involve sharing your strengths. They involve trying to confront and satisfactorily manage your own and others’ vulnerabilities and anxieties. There can be strength in this too. –Richard Nelson Jones

· Love is defined as making choices that affirm both yourself and others in your relationships. This giving of yourself may entail receiving another’s love. However, my main focus is on the messages you send rather than on those that you receive. Such love is expressed in your daily choices with a range of people and not just in your intimate relationships. To the extent that your thoughts, feelings and actions affirm rather than hurt others, you are a loving person.

· Believers are aggressive, they are positive. They know that bigness can be created from smallness. A big oak comes from an acorn. Believers are thinkers. They never spend their time being emotional about how badly off they are. They never clutter their minds with negative thoughts. They think positively and believe, and so ideas come and often those ideas turn into blessings for humanity.-Norman Vincent Peale

A STORY OF LOVE

I have a friend whose son developed an avid interest in baseball. My friend wasn’t interested in baseball at all. But one summer, he took his son to see every major league team play one game. The trip took over six weeks and cost a great deal of money, but it became a powerful bonding experience in their relationship. My friend was asked on his return, “Do you like baseball that much?”

“No”, he replied, “but I like my son that much.”

-Norman Vincent Peale