Definitions: (1) appropriate or pleasing in nature or character; agreeable; (2) suited or adapted in tastes or temperament; compatible; kindred; (3) harmoniously associated; (4) existing together sociably; genial

Derivation: Latin, “with genius”

Quote: What could an unsanctified man do in Heaven? No man can possibly be happy in a place where he is not in his element and where all around him is not congenial to his tastes, habits, and character. — John Charles Ryle (1816–1900) English Anglican bishop
     Note: Heaven will be a strange place for all of us, saint and sinner alike. The angels will help us to move from good to better to best.

Definitions: (1) acting in accordance or harmony with prevailing standards, attitudes, and practices <of society or a group>; complying; (2) to be or become similar in form, nature, or character

Balancing Qualities: Confidence, Individuality

Compatible Quality: a team player

Quotes:
• Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it. — Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French novelist
• The young always have the same problem – how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another. — Quentin Crisp [born Denis Charles Pratt] (1908–1999) English raconteur

Comment: Beware of “confirmation bias” – the (deliberate or unwitting) tendency to interpret observations in a way as to fit or reinforce some pre-existing belief or assumption. This, of course, is a natural propensity but the more objective you become the less your subjective leanings will cloud your judgment.

Admonition: Know when (and how) to conform and when to buck the system.

Definitions: (1) having full belief; fully assured; certain; (2) relying on oneself; bold

Synonyms:  in the groove, positive, sanguine, sure, undiscouraged 

Balancing Qualities: Changeable, Flexible

Compatible Qualities: knowledgeable, understanding

Too Far: arrogant, brash, cocky, smart alecky

Quotes:
• As is our confidence, so is our capacity. — William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
• Confidence ignores “No Trespassing” signs. It is as if he doesn’t see them. He is an explorer, committed to following his own direction. He studied mathematics in France and still views his life as a series of experiments. The only limits he respects are his own. He is honest and humble and very funny. After all these years, his sister doesn’t understand why he still ice skates with Doubt. — Janet Ruth Gendler (~1950’s-) The Book of Qualities {1984}

Affirmation: By writing out words of confidence you help implant the idea more firmly in your subconscious mind, which then works harder and faster to produce happy results. Affirmations are your strongest confidence-builders. — Catherine Ponder (1927-) The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity {1962}

Comment: In the acquisition of confidence you need at least a bit of success. You have to have some nerve to step out there in the first place to see if and how it works. You also need a bit of failure to overcome, to learn from, so you can go on to what does work. Set up the dynamic of a positive goal. Assess the reality of your current situation, take a look at the intermediate goals and achieve those.

Observations:
• Confidence is faith in oneself.
• You can hold confidence in the one who can keep a secret, a pledge, or a vow.

Definitions: (1) brief and exact; focused and to the point; comprehensive; (2) giving precisely what is needed

Synonyms: condensed, pithy, succinct, snappy

Poetry:
The light of a candle
Is transferred to another candle
Spring twilight
— Yosa Buson (1716–1784) Japanese Haiku master & painter

Quote: God has stated in clear and concise language how He created the universe and we ought not to doubt His Word. — Walter Lang (1896–1972) American film director

How to Live This Quality Today: Notice if the person you are talking to is very busy. If so, chatter about the weather will be a waste of their time. Courtesy sometimes demands being concise.

Advice: Read the room. You may think what you have to say is so important, so wise, so true that you need to suck up all of the oxygen in the room. But if you give your message concisely it will reach hearts and minds more readily. Nonetheless, they still may reject all or part of it.

Definitions: (1) overcoming distrust or hostility with friendly action, compromise, and communication; (2) the ability to sooth anger; placate; (3) making peace between persons at variance; reconciling; pacific

Derivation: Latin, “to assemble, unite, or win over”

Synonyms: conciliate, engaging

Quote: What is the time for singing, what the time for play – and in whose presence? When to jest or tease and on what occasion to be conciliatory – and to whom? In a word, how does one maintain one’s character? Wherever you swerve, you suffer a loss from the very act itself. — Epictetus (50-135) Greek Stoic philosopher

Definitions: (1) attentive to or involved in some matter; (2) in a state of caring interest; <a concerned citizen>

Too Far: reactionary, worried

Reflection: God is concerned with everything; yet he will never interfere with anything.

Quotes:
• It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘try to be a little kinder.’ — Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894–1963) English writer & philosopher
• Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith. — Paul Johannes Tillich (1886–1965) German-American Christian existentialist philosopher

Definitions: (1) able to point to a common objective; focused; (2) able to direct one’s thoughts or efforts; capable of fixing one’s attention on one idea; (3) able to put ideas together in new ways

Synonym: laconic <able to express an idea in a few words>

Quote: Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. — Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Scottish-Canadian inventor

Comment: If you have great concentrative powers, you not only can block out extraneous thoughts and sounds, but also can utilize stray inputs to enhance your focus on the task at hand. During problem solving and brainstorming, half of the fun is to be open to all stimuli in the framework of the solution. No matter how ridiculous the input, it may trigger some aspect of the solution eventually adopted.
     A person with good concentration usually has a very quick and discerning mind. A decision can be made in a split second ↔ all the way through.

Admonition: “Every step a perfect step” became an obvious warning while hiking the back country of the Grand Canyon.

Definitions: (1) combining the qualities of two (or more) different matters or ideas; (2) something lying between the extremes; (3) adjusting or settling a difference by mutual agreement, often with concessions on both sides

Derivation: Latin, “with promise”

Quote: A multicultural society does not reject the culture of the other but is prepared to listen, to see, to dialogue and, in the final analysis, to possibly accept the other’s culture without compromising its own. — Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin (1939-) Israeli politician & lawyer; 10^th President of Israel

Comment: The different parties in a dispute often think they have to give something away in order for a compromise to be effected. Although this is the case in some instances, it need not be the case altogether. Compromising is defined as a “combining of qualities.” There need not be a loss. It need not be a matter of giving away (lateral thinking), but a matter of giving up (vertical thinking). The blending of positive qualities will bring about novel, unexpected, and better results.

Consideration: Indeed, when the blending of ideas and ideals is perfect there can appear something surprising, synergistic, even superadditive. Hydrogen and oxygen, in perfect harmony, create water.

Observation: A daredevil will compromise safety for the thrill of the adventure.

Definitions: (1) having an extensive intellectual range with understanding; (2) able to perceive the relationships of a group of facts or ideas; enjoying to a large mental extent; (3) able to grasp the nature, significance, scope, or implication of ideas; covering thoughts broadly; (4) Docity <able to size up a situation quickly>; compendious <presenting the essential fact>

Derivation: Latin, “to catch, thus capture, and finally possess”

Familial Quality: open

Quotes:
• The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist
• Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. — Hypatia (c. 350–370 to 415 AD) Egyptian philosopher, astronomer, & mathematician
• It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details. — Jules Henri Poincare (1854-1912) French mathematician

Definition: (1) freedom from agitation as a result of self-discipline; serene; tranquil; unflappable; (2) the elements which constitute or make up a whole

Synonyms: calm, cool, quiet, sedate

Quotes:
• When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. — John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th President of the United States
• Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed. — Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei (1564-1642) Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer