Virtues: 10 Superpowers To Improve Your Life

Our virtues are our superpowers. They are personal qualities and psychological assets that we can develop. Developing virtues is not about being better than others, but about developing the potential of your own heart and mind. The philosophers of ancient Greece, the Buddha, the Yogis, and the Positive Psychology movement all value the cultivation of certain personal qualities. After studying virtue practices and their classification in multiple traditions, of East and West, I have carefully selected 10 cornerstone virtues for this course. Each of these are qualities that are widely admired in society, encouraged by spiritual traditions, and very practical too—they all make your life much easier.

Leçon 1: Tranquility — Pacify Your Mind

Tranquility is that serene quality of peace and restfulness. Tranquility involves keeping your mind and heart calm, like the ocean’s depth. With tranquility, you take your time to observe what’s going on and act purposefully, without agitation, without hurry, and without overreacting. On a deeper level, it means to diminish rumination, worries, and useless thinking, saving your energy.

Leçon 2: Focus — Gather Your Energy

Focus, the ability to control your attention, is the core skill of meditation. It involves bringing your mind, moment after moment, to dwell where you want it to dwell, rather than being pulled by the gravity of all the noise going on inside and outside of you.

In a deeper level, focus is the ability to live your life by design rather than by default. To live a life where you are taking steps moment after moment toward what you consider to be meaningful and fulfilling. It’s the ability to stop paying attention to things that are not serving your higher purpose; to ignore the trivial many, and to double down on the essential few.

Leçon 3: Integrity — Be True To Yourself

Living with integrity means you can free up a lot of mental space, because 
you don’t need to remember lies or make excuses. You default to honesty and transparency. You promise less often—but when you promise, you fulfill. It builds trust in people and confidence in yourself. There is a sense of “moral pleasure”, a peace of mind that comes from living a life of integrity, which cannot be found elsewhere. It also brings a better sense of who you are and what you stand for.

Leçon 4: Humility — Let Go Of Ego

Humility is letting go of the desire to feel superior to other people by means of wealth, fame, intelligence, beauty, titles, status, or influence. It’s about not comparing yourself with others, not thinking of yourself as either superior or inferior. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “True humility is not about thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less”. In the deepest sense, humility is about transcending the ego.

Leçon 5: Wisdom — Perceive With Insight

Wisdom, on the other hand, is understanding things in the correct perspective, knowing yourself, and knowing how to be and how to act in this world. We can also call it discernment, clarity, vision, or insight. The key practices for developing wisdom are honest self-reflection, observation and deep contemplation. Wisdom is developed by asking yourself hard questions, and looking deeply within. For that purpose, we need a mind that is calm, sharp, and able to penetrate deeply into the nature of things.

Leçon 6: Courage — Act Despite Fear

Courage is the power to act regardless of fear. It is the ability to hold on to the feeling of “I need to do this”, ignore fear-mongering thoughts, and take action. Courage is the strength that allows one to triumph over fear and uncertainty. It’s a universally admired virtue. This lesson will help you develop it.

Leçon 7: Trust — Open Your Heart

Trust is our ability to set doubts and fear at rest. It allows us to not be neurotic; to not be cynical. Even though these things are proudly worn as a badge of intelligence and rationalism by some, with them comes mental distress and isolation. Trust believes in goodness. It is innocent, open, and it gives peace of mind to the one who cultivates it. Learn how to develop trust in a balanced way.

Leçon 8: Joy — Cherish Your Existence

According to the meditation masters, joy or bliss is the natural state of our mind and heart. But we forget, we get distracted, and we pay attention to the wrong things—and thus get disconnected from ourselves. This lesson will help you to naturally incline your mind towards joy, appreciation and cheerfulness.

Leçon 9: Non-Attachment — Let Go Of Your Chains

Non-attachment, or letting go, is the most essential skill for overcoming suffering. It doesn’t mean that we live life less intensely. Rather, we do what we are called to do with zest, and then we step back and watch what happens, without anxiety. It doesn’t mean that we don’t love, play, work, or seek with intensity. But rather, that we are detached from the results, knowing that we have full control only over the effort we make.

Leçon 10: Kindness — Enlarge Yourself

Kindness (and related virtues of love, compassion, and consideration) is the core “social virtue”. Kindness invites us to expand our sense of well-being to include others as well. It gives us the ability to put ourselves in another person’s shoes, feel what they feel as if it is happening to us, and if appropriate, do something about it. The result is the experience of the “helper’s high”, a mix of dopamine and oxytocin. A greater sense of satisfaction that comes along with broadening your heart to accommodate others.

Reviews

Excellent course. One of the most profound on Insight Timer.

Great course with lots of actionable items to take away! Thank you.

Besides Sarah Blondin's meditations, this is the best course I have listened to as yet. I have listened to many, some good, but the thoughtful paced approach of this course offers up some self work than guidance to solidify what was learened/presented. I will return again. Placed in my favorite course list. This has helped me through some difficult times, reminding me I have the fortitude to make it through. Thank you ever so much.

Amazing course! Thank you so much for leading us into experiencing these virtues. I will definitely come back often as I truly believe implementing these lessons into my life will continue to built on my journey of self awareness and coming back to the essence of what it is to be human ❤️

This course was great and I will probably repeat it many times.

A gifted teacher; I appreciate the depth, clarity, organization and structure of this course!

Super course that show super powers for us to be super kind persons. Thank you so much 😊

Powerful practices and teachings to empower me and my life. Such useful virtues that I will repeat listening again and again. Thank you Giovanni

Brilliant, thankyou!!!!! and the inspiration you ride in on😃🙏💕💜🥳👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Great course! Very inspiring! Thank you very much 🙏🏻

May you be happy, may you be safe, may you be at peace 💫💕🌈

It is one of the best courses I have taken!
In a very concrete and structured style, Giovanni teaches us a way to become a better person for our own benefit and the benefit of others.

I 🥰 the immersive approach of this course. I have a few superpowers I need to reinforce and added this course part of my “Reboot Toolkit” — bookmarked 🤗

A simple but powerful experience to exercise virtues. A reminder of Buddha qualities. Thank you 🙏

A wonderful course that made me feel and think. Thank you for sharing.

Meditation combined with actionable ideas. Hit home for me.

I have gained so much from this rich course. I intend to take up the 21 Day Challenge with several of the virtues in turn. Thank you for the thoughtful compassion you bring to all of your courses and meditations. I am grateful.

Excellent refresher course for me as I am currently one of your students in LoveAndDare.

I thank Giovanni for all the inspiration and alignment with my heart this course have given to me.
I feel really grateful for make me remember all this wise words and practices.

Really gets to the heart of matters. He leaves his explanation of the meditation toward the end which is a new experience. The only time I did not enjoy the format was on Humility day because I struggle with self-esteem and ended up in tears. This is a wonderful course if you are looking to take a true look in the mirror and have some humble pie. The sounds are perfect for both getting you settled in and bringing you back to focus when thoughts get side tracked.

A wonderful course. I am going to try to pick an attribute and take the 21 day challenge.
This course is really life changing! Much recommended.