Wisdom, and words
to think about.

Much has been written, and many exercises carried out, to help us discover, assess and enhance our personal levels of kindness. Sussex University even embarked on a comprehensive project, "The Kindness Test", to find out how we feel about it. What is kindness? Am I kind? Who am I kind to, and how is my kindness expressed?

We feel instinctively that acts of kindness are good for us, as well as for the recipient; science gives us physical evidence that the kinder we are, the more our brain's reward system encourages us to be kind, and the better it is for our sense of happiness and self-worth.

So here is something to reflect on. The prehistoric root of "kind" is the word "gen-", which signified "giving birth", with all its associations of creation and family. "Generic", "generation" and "gentle" are obvious descendants, and for a word more obviously connected with "kind", think of "kin", as in "kith and kin".

Perhaps, then, awareness of this ancient word can encourage us to think of ourselves as members of the human family, all bound together by a common need to show kindness to each other.

Every generation rediscovers the state of mind and body we call anxiety, and offers its own way of dealing with it. It is tempting to think of it as a recent phenomenon, but that would be a mistake: the Roman statesman Cicero classified it as an illness 2,000 years ago, inheriting a tradition going back to the Stoics and beyond.

The meaning we attach to the word, the anticipation of future threat, has not changed much. What has changed is that the pressures of the lives we lead today have caused a sharp rise in its occurrence. Medication, self-help, talking therapies, yoga or mindfulness work well for many, but there is no universal solution.

A better understanding is given to us by the word's origin: the classical Latin "angere", "to choke or strangle". There we have the direct connection between the inhibition of breathing and the physical symptoms of anxiety. Focusing on the emotional and cognitive components alone is only half the picture, learning to identify and relax the tense muscles that cause shallow breathing is an essential part of dealing with it.

"Worry" comes from the Old English "wyrgan", which, like "angere", also means "to strangle", so the forceful constriction of breathing is at its root too. A shadow of its ancient meaning survives when we talk of a dog "worrying" a bone.

Humility is not a virtue that past generations would naturally have associated with leadership, but a recent Harvard Business Review post included it among the qualities that help shape an "inclusive" leader, suggesting that such leaders should be "modest about their capabilities, admit mistakes and create the space for others to contribute".

As understood today, humility still carries associations of meekness and self-abasement, inherited from its past as one of the great virtues of the early Christian Church, the counter to Pride.

But a look at its origin, far back beyond Christianity, gives us extra dimensions to value. The Latin "humilitas" derives from "humus", meaning "earth" or "ground", a root it shares with "human". The 9th-century monks who translated the Latin into Old English gave us "earthiness" for "humilitas".

A reflection on humility might remind us all, whether leaders or led, that now, more than ever, in a world changing so rapidly, we need to have both feet planted firmly on the earth, to be "grounded", and that we share a common humanity.

This word is much used by businesses to declare their core qualities: honesty, integrity, loyalty, flexibility and fairness are among the most popular. But surely "values" are held by people, by individuals within organisations, not by the organisations themselves? And should we not be able to assume that those qualities are firmly embedded in the people who work there?

The close association of "values" with "worth" encourages those scrolling through a company's website to associate it with commercial as well as moral superiority.

So here is something to reflect on. The conjectural Indo-European origin of "values" is "*wal-", which means simply "to be strong". It has no moral undertone; it does not mean to be "good". Might now be a good time for businesses to re-think "values", and make a simpler and more powerful connection with us by parading the qualities of honesty, integrity and loyalty as their "strengths" instead?

I'm sometimes asked what the difference is between "personality" and "character". In ordinary speech the words are often used interchangeably, but a look at their origins helps us appreciate the difference.

The Latin origin of "personality" is the "persona", from an earlier Greek word meaning "face", the painted mask worn by actors in Greek and Roman tragedy and comedy. Like the masks still worn in some Asian theatre, it vividly defined the part the actor was playing. The wooden masks even acted as sound-boxes, magnifying the actors' voices; there is a link here to "resonance".

So personality is outward-looking: the set of attitudes and behaviours that define how we appear to other people. Like the actor's mask, personality can change.

"Character", by contrast, derives from a classical Greek word meaning "to cut deeply, or to engrave", "a mark, an engraving or a distinctive quality". So character describes our inwardly-held moral values and beliefs: distinguishing marks deeply engraved in our identity, which stand behind, but are sometimes in conflict with, our personality.

When we are powered by ambition, we imagine ourselves like an arrow flying towards a target: many things can go wrong, but the intended journey is straight, and in one direction only.

But the classical Latin word paints a more nuanced picture. It is in two parts, "ambi-", meaning "around", and "-itio", the root of which means "go": hence "a going around". It described political candidates going around canvassing for votes in Rome, and unless they could take enough of the right people with them, they would not succeed. It's worth reflecting on the value of seeking support from others in achieving one's aims.

"Passionate" is much used to describe an intensely-felt, positive approach, a favourite of those promoting a service ("…passionate about giving our clients the best possible service"). But the Latin origin means "I suffer", and another word from the same root is "passive". However all-consuming and joyful the commitment, an element of suffering may well be a necessary part of the journey.