240209 What I learned in my studies this morning 4

Today's Meditation(s):

This passage came up in my reading this morning:

Meditations 5.6 (Waterfield)

This lead me to two other passages:

Meditations 7.73 (Waterfield)

Meditations 9.42 (end) (Waterfield)

What made it fortuitous is that I got to share these thoughts with my kids. Why is this lucky?  Because just last night, in our lessons about communication, we discussed 'keeping score' and its ramifications.

Our lessons have been based around Leil Lowndes useful (if a bit dated) book, How to Talk to Anyone.  In it, the very last technique she offers is called The Great Scorecard in the Sky.

Lowndes is speaking primarily of business relationships, but notes that this also applies to personal connections. She notes that, in business,

Big winners . . . ask themselves 'Who has the most to benefit from this relationship? What has each of us done recently that demands deference from the other?' And what can I do to even the score?

In this context, it's about navigating interpersonal connections rather than the morality-based background of Marcus' quotes.

So what do we do? How do we mesh these two seemingly conflicting principles?

By acknowledging the reality of interpersonal scorecards and how they affect our interactions, adapting to this basic human tendency so that we may be more successful in our business and personal relationships.

At the same time, we must learn to let our scorecard be blank.  We 'forgive the debt' the other person would owe us and continue to do our best to be kind and generous and beneficial to everyone, never expecting or asking others to 'pay up' and balance the account.