THEME FOR JANUARY - Earnestness, Sincerity, Honesty, Truth.

WELCOME TO THE START OF A BRAND NEW YEAR!! 2007 !!

The quality that I chose for the month of January proved to be a real challenge. Trying to find 30 quotes about earnestness that I liked was impossible. So I decided to branch out an include sincerity as they are nearly synonymous. By this stage I was still half a month short for quotes. Sigh

Even though I was feeling a bit disheartened over the task I set myself I didn't give up. I always enjoy a challenge!! lol What I did discover along this path was that honesty and truth are an integral part of both sincerity and earnestness. With that in mind I searched some more.

I now have a fabulous set of quotes made up of four different qualities that are all intertwined - Earnestness - Sincerity - Honesty - Truth. Below I have tried to offer up some definitions and explanations for each of the qualities.

EARNESTNESS
It proved to be a difficult word to find a definition for but hopefully the following will give you some idea - sincere, seriousness, a solemn and dignified feeling, commitment - sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose, determined - purposeful and sincere intent, heartfelt, devout.

SINCERITY
The definition for this includes, genuine, true, honest, pure, open and is characterized by by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions. Sincerity is the rare and often-admired virtue of speaking truly about one's feelings, thoughts, desires. Sincere expression carries risks to the speaker, since the ordinary screens used in everyday life are opened to the outside world. At the same time, we expect our friends, our lovers, our leaders "to be sincere."

TRUTH
Common dictionary definitions of truth mention some form of accord with fact or reality. There is no single definition of truth about which the majority of scholars agree, and numerous theories of truth continue to be widely debated. There are many differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth, how to define and identify truth, what roles do revealed and acquired knowledge play, and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute.

HONESTY
We are all familiar with this term which is more commonly used in the superficial sense ie. simply, stating facts and views as best one truly believes them to be. However, it also includes both honesty to others, and to oneself and about ones own motives and inner reality.I really like the way he Buddist teaching defines it “Real honesty is being honest about what your possibilities are, what your potentials are. That's where true honesty lies. It stretches us. It’s not simply admitting where we are - that’s a beginning step, it’s not the end step. So be honest about where you are but also be honest about what your possibilities are. That keeps the challenge of the path always before us.”