Schooling Struggle

36: Happy & Nice Aren't Enough - Steve M.

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Episode Guest: Steve McCloskey


This episode is all about continuums.  Exploring the depths, contexts, and contrasts of (or between) several levels.  This of course dives into all related areas and nuances which may overlap or are derivatives of those terms.  

Interesting Question (also in the poll):

    - Do you need to love yourself, to love someone else?


Mental habit / action / tool examples:

  • Kindness is more than treating someone in a pleasant way.  Sometimes it's more than what's nice or comfortable.
  • Can you be equally kind to people who you know, and those you do not, alike?
  • Which criteria predicate how we determine our response to others?
  • Seek activities where you know that what you are giving of yourself is used to better of be of utility to others.
  • It is not wrong to have boundaries for your time and how / when / why others seek or receive it.
  • Consider that there are different lived experiences and circumstances of specific things across the world.  Some examples, poverty, privilege.  Be aware of the true relativity of how those things play into your intentions.
  • Joy has more depth and longevity than simple happiness.
  • Acknowledging and expressing fully emotions, letting them swell and release.  This unblocks the dept of emotions we can accept and feel.
  • Sometimes what we want now is not aligned with what we want most.  To get what we want most, we need to look past what we want now.

    • Related points:

    • What is the difference between nice/polite/civil and kind?
    • The language we use is dynamic.  It changes over time.
    • Very few individuals aspire to simply be 'nice' in life.
    • It's easier for some to intentionally help people in physical proximity.
    • If you want an autograph, get in line but try not to be 103rd in line.
    • A home without a foundation doesn't give much to build upon.
    • "Love" can have many different meanings and contexts.
    • There is much strife in parenting.
    • Sometimes in Peter's mind, joy can conjure images of peaches and rainbows.
    • Kindness can be costly.


      • Quotes / quips:

      • "You can have anything you want, but you cannot have everything you want."
      • "Niceness is to kindness, as happiness is to joy."
      • "It is so easy to do easy things in life.  Be the type of person that is willing to do challenging things."
      • "If you don't have good well-maintained care for self, then the care for others will be diminished or others."
      • "The way you do anything, is the way you do everything."
      • "Don't postpone joy."
      • "We have to embrace discomfort for something deeper and more durable in the long run."

        • Rando Mentions:

        • The Ohio State University
        • Princeton Theological Seminary
        • Amanda Barnhart - CrossFit

          • Contact us:

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