A salutary reminder

It’s going to be pretty quiet here until I get all the grades in (I think of that old country song “When The Work’s All Done This Fall”), but in the meantime, I want to record this bit of wisdom from Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence, wisdom quoted by Doris Kearns Goodwin in her fascinating study of Lincoln and his Cabinet, Team of Rivals:

“Having hope,” writes Daniel Goleman in his study of emotional intelligence, “means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks.” Hope is “more than the sunny view that everything will turn out all right”; it is “believing you have the will and the way to accomplish your goals.”

It’s been very good to read Goodwin’s book. I see I will need to read Goleman’s next.

4 thoughts on “A salutary reminder

  1. “Team of Rivals” is a great book. I’ve read a lot of civil war books and novels, and this is #1 for me (tied perhaps with Gore Vidal’s Lincoln) for making that whole period come alive for me.

  2. @Steve Simels Just going back to relive the wonder of having Steverino himself leave a comment on my blog–and about my music, no less. And now at last it can be revealed that the “hey” is a complete steal from a bit in Marshall Crenshaw’s “A Hundred Dollars” from *Mary Jean and 9 Others*. He does it right before the big solo.

    And now you know The Rest Of The Story.

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