About Misinterpretation

It could be you, your message or the environment (context) that is causing the problem. Many people go through life thinking they’re good at reading people’s non-verbal signals. They’ll take a single action by another person and, lacking the requisite empathy to dig further, they’ll ascribe it to a particular feeling — with no back-up information. Needless to say, these people may end up antagonising others (‘No I’m not bored with what you’re telling me; I’m just tired’ … ‘No you’re not — you’re bored, I can tell’ … ‘Will you just leave it for now’ …).

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About Guidance

‘O my loved guide, who more than seven times
Security hast rendered me, and drawn
From peril deep, whereto I stood exposed,
Desert me not,’ I cried, ‘in this extreme.
And, if our onward going be denied,
Together trace we back our steps with speed.’

My liege, who thither had conducted me,
Replied: ‘Fear not: for of our passage none
Hath power to disappoint us, by such high
Authority permitted. But do thou
Expect me here; meanwhile, thy wearied spirit
Comfort, and feed with kindly hope, assured
I will not leave thee in this lower world.’

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About Meaning

In the last chapter of his book ‘Flow’, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presents the mesmerised reader with three sides of the word meaning: purpose, resolution, and, ultimately, harmony.

Purpose

In this sense the answer to the old riddle “What is the meaning of life?” turns out to be astonishingly simple. The meaning of life is meaning: whatever it is, wherever it comes from, a unified purpose is what gives meaning to life.

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About the Good in Life

A community should be judged good not because it is technologically advanced, or swimming in material riches; it is good if it offers people a chance to enjoy as many aspects of their lives as possible, while allowing them to develop their potential in the pursuit of ever greater challenges. Similarly the value of a school does not depend on its prestige, or its ability to train students to face up to the necessities of life, but rather on the degree of enjoyment of lifelong learning it can transmit. A good factory is not necessarily the one that makes the most money, but the one that is most responsible for improving the quality of life for its workers and its customers. And the true function of politics is not to make people more affluent, safe, or powerful, but to let as many as possible enjoy an increasingly complex existence.

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