Essentials for the Journey
Essentials for the Journey audiobook version should become available for purchase by Sept. 30. Dr. Simon’s vocal chord dysfunction required narration by someone other than himself. The result, however, is a solid, engaging delivery by veteran broadcaster and voice talent, Andy Pearson. And a side benefit of the narration was catching some errors in the print and Kindle editions of the book. An updated version will be available soon, making this important work easier to read and digest.
Essentials for the Journey audiobook version will hopefully allow many folks to ponder the timeless and all-important principles it contains while riding in the car, working out, or going about their daily activities. Any time is the right time to learn more about the character crisis we’ve faced for several decades and must move beyond. Our relationships, community affairs, indeed, our very lives – all depend on reclaiming the importance of solid character formation. That so many character-impaired individuals have brough trauma and heartache into the lives of their relationship partners is the scourge of our times. And we simply must turn things around. Moreover, we must do so in the same way character disturbance so egregiously crept up on us: slowly, incrementally, one heart at a time.
Some Big Changes Afoot
Some big changes are coming to the blog and to some other of Dr. Simon’s forums. A Spanish language page is under development that will hopefully make many of the posts available in Spanish. There is already a Spanish language edition of In Sheep’s Clothing. But having important articles available in Spanish for Spanish-only speakers should give those readers some of the same benefits others have enjoyed.
The Character Matters podcasts in audio only form will soon be available on all the major podcast platforms. And another live edition of Character Matters is being planned for October.
An Important Matter
On September 20, a social media marketing firm crafted a short reel that has caused some controversy. I did not know this reel was being fashioned. And I initially had a mind to have it removed. The reel features a small part of a workshop I gave to mental health professionals of various disciplines. And in that workshop, examples of behaviors that reflect aspects of character were featured and discussed. That’s what I do in workshops: talk about character and the behaviors that people with various character features tend to display. And the examples shown included real clinical case vignettes, video clips of dramatically-modeled examples, and video clips of various public figures.
As I mentioned, the training was for professionals already educated in character maters to some degree. It was not, as some commentators have alleged, a class of students being indoctrinated. And the public figure clips used for demonstration included political figures from both sides of the dominant political aisles. Moreover, as always, the focus was on the behaviors, because, as I emphasize in In Sheep’s Clothing, we do well to judge actions, not presumed intentions when assessing character. And when a behavior alerts us to a potential problematic character issue, we do well to pay attention to it, no matter who displays it, and no matter that others might very well display it also.
If a behavior is cause for concern, it’s worth noting and taking appropriate responsive action. It’s as simple as that. It’s also as important as that. I address this issue more and why it’s so important that we rediscover what character integrity and real love are all about in the most recently posted Character Matters podcast. I hope folks watch it. We live in toxic times. And our individual and collective welfare is under more assault than ever.