Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3164/-1/133/
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HEARTICALLY YOURS: I Felt The Virtue Come Into Me by Ijahnya Christian
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One measure of the success of education and training includes the levels of reflection generated by new material and the application of knowledge to enhance one’s quality of living.
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Ijahnya Christian
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After Day 1 at the Virtues Workshop for educators that began on Tuesday 3rd January I found myself early on the morning of Day 2 puffing up Crocus Hill on of my new –never say die- exercise regime, thinking about some of the virtues that I would incorporate in my journey towards improved health in 2006. Without uttering one word about New Year’s resolutions, these are some of the virtues that will help me to sustain the effort.
The first virtue is that of Love - Love for my body which is meant to work for me well into the future. If I love this temple with which I was blessed, I must detach myself from my addiction to processed sugar and foods containing that toxic substance. I must also detach myself from the guilt of coconut tart and potato pudding consumed over the holiday season and work towards detachment from all those calories that have surely turned to fat and have settled somewhere in my middle region. I would continue to advocate for sugar to be made an illegal substance but I know that this is but the virtue of Idealism kicking in. The Love must be demonstrated by Caring for this first environment of mind that has been resilient in spite of the onslaught of abuse rooted in rule by the taste buds. The Love says that I cannot continue to dig my grave with my teeth. Detachment is also a virtue – the virtue of not becoming so overwhelmed by emotion that you become useless in dealing with sensitive situations but balancing that emotion with rational thought and action.
Then there is Confidence. I have progressed to a level of Confidence leading up to the Self-discipline that is a vital ingredient for the sustainability of the programme. The sustainability is also assured with a much higher level of Determination than shown in the past.
Perseverance is another virtue. Get past the fact that your body aches; get past the fact that the mornings are still cold and dark; get past the fact that it rained and is still drizzling – get out of bed and walk. With Confidence, Determination, Perseverance and Self-discipline, out the window go those mucous forming foods that I like too much for my own good. With those virtues come the increased chlorophyll and the consumption of foods beneficial to my blood type. This is something I am highly interested in and wouldn’t mind linking up with you to form a Women’s Wellness group. Women’s wellness, expressed as virtues, can be found in virtues such as Moderation (only one serving of the stew peas instead of three), Cooperation (agreeing to call each other up to keep the collective resolve boosted) and Courage (to actually go to the gym and not mind all those wonderfully fit people around me). One of the best things about this eating for the blood type is the recommended daily glass of red wine that is highly beneficial to people with my blood type. The downside is that my favourite food of all time, corn, is supposed to be a food to be avoided at all cost. Not even corn silk tea or cornflakes (which I don’t even associate with corn) should be used by us AB+s.
OK. Now the job is to work up to the virtue of Enthusiasm. Even as I write this, there is that sense of loss of the warmth of lying there just listening to the BBC instead of trying to keep up with Personal Coach Maduki as I leave my deeply sunken (in contrast to Maduki’s barely there) footsteps up and down Crocus Bay. I want one day, not sure if it can be attained before the end of 2006, to have the virtue of Patience that I admire so much in Maduki. I am so appreciative of his Gentleness, Kindness, Helpfulness, Generosity, Understanding, Reliability and Respect that I can do little but respond with the virtue of Thankfulness. I still need to reach that stage of acting on the knowledge that the virtue of Responsibility for my health is not that of my coach but my own.
This new Commitment to daily exercise will be fuelled by the virtues of Diligence (a very important quality in the life of a Rastawoman), Creativity (new routes, new routine, new cuisine) and a renewed sense of Purposefulness. Somehow, at the end of the day, I have expectations of increased Peacefulness, Joyfulness and Honour. I am not yet sure how this part works but that is my expectation anyway.
Not all of the fifty-two virtues on the Virtues Workshop list have been incorporated into my vision of how my exercise programme can be established as a part of my life. Some of them, such as Assertiveness, Friendliness, Service, Tolerance, Integrity, and Justice are virtues by which I already define myself but you may not be able to live with me, or I may not be able to stand myself, if I were to become that embodiment of perfection that I envisage. Plus perfection is not even on the virtues list. However, Excellence is and I will continue to strive to inculcate this virtue in everything that I do, the virtue of Courtesy in everything that I say and the virtue of Consideration in all my thoughts.
There is one virtue that is not on the list but is a strong personal value and a goal in which my island community is also embraced. It is not often that I find myself waxing Biblical but this reflection on virtues led me to the story of the woman with the issue of blood whose faith told her that if she could but touch the hem of the Master’s garment she would be healed. Even though the Christ was in the middle of a throng He knew that a special healing contact had been made. According to St. Luke Chapter 8 in the King James Version 2000, He wanted to know who had touched him, saying, “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” In this instance virtue has been interpreted to mean power. On that note, I hereby declare 2006 the Year of Empowerment and if you don’t want your share of that, just watch me for I am taking it as a year of Personal Empowerment. With an ending like this to my first Heartically Yours for 2006, clearly the virtues of Modesty and Humility are still challenges and are therefore listed high among those I am yet to pursue.