Profound: December 2014 Archives

Unseen CS Lewis letter defines his notion of joy | Books | The Guardian

Lewis discusses joy in a letter found tucked into a copy of Lewis's The Problem of Pain which was bought in a used bookshop.

"Real joy seems to me almost as unlike security or prosperity as it is unlike agony...."

"It jumps under one's ribs and tickles down one's back and makes one forget meals and keeps one (delightedly) sleepless o' nights. It shocks one awake when the other puts one to sleep. My private table is one second of joy is worth 12 hours of Pleasure. I think you really quite agree with me."

In a postscript, he added:

"Don't you know the disappointment when you expected joy from a piece of music and get only pleasure: Like finding Leah when you thought you'd married Rachel!"

A Better Way to Say Sorry | cuppacocoa

A meaningful apology must be more than a mumbled "Sorry." This four-point pattern leads the apologizer to understand and express specifically what they did that was wrong, how it hurt other people, and what positive action he will take in the future to avoid repeating the wrong, and then it leads the offender to express humility to the person offended and invites a response, opening the door to reconciliation.

I'm sorry for...
This is wrong because...
In the future, I will...
Will you forgive me?

A fourth-grade teacher explains how she taught this pattern to her class (her use of role-play and peer critique is interesting), and the impressive results it produced.