In Honor Of St. Isidore Of Seville, Linky Love For Eggheads Intent On Self-Improvement

/ Ally Bean

Image by naobim on pixabay

TODAY IS THE FEAST DAY of St. Isidore of Seville.  Sometimes referred to as the last scholar of the ancient world, he lived from 560 to 636 in Spain and was an Archbishop in his day. [More here]

He is the Patron Saint of Electronics and the Internet, having been named such by the Roman Catholic Church in 1999. [More here]

Today the Order of Saint Isidore of Seville works toward Christian chivalry on the internet. Their motto in Latin is Bono Vince Malum which in English means: “Overcome Evil with Good.”

SO WITH THE FOREGOING IN mind I’m typing away like a good little blogger this morning, one who’d like to share with you the following good articles that I’ve been thinking about this past week.

I’m conscious of what I allow to fill my brain, knowing that for me it’s easy to get lost in the sauce [emotion] of what I’m reading.  Thus I tend to restrict my casual online reading away from hate and vitriol toward what I call good psychology.

Below are links to five articles, with a bit of commentary provided by moi. ‘Cause this is a personal blog and that’s what I’m supposed to do. Babble a bit, share a bit, provide joy & insight to my readers.

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Are you an evil genius? How dishonesty can make you more creative 

[well, there’s a truth to this]

The Surprising Benefits of Creating a ‘Failure Resume’ 

[did this, somehow don’t feel better about myself]

Don’t Know What To Do With Your Life? This Exercise Can Make Things Clear 

[good idea, I need a manifesto]

Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. Take One That Isn’t.  

[quickly confirms that I know who I am]

Why A “Complaint Cleanse” May Be Exactly What You Need For A Happier Week 

[clever idea that makes sense to me]

~ ~ • ~ ~

80 thoughts on “In Honor Of St. Isidore Of Seville, Linky Love For Eggheads Intent On Self-Improvement”

  5. I need a news cleanse. Lately I find myself watching part of an old sitcom rather than the breaking news part of the news show. I tune in later when it’s more local news and the feel good stories. My disposition has improved a lot.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. Thanks. I know who to pray to, St. Isidore of Seville, now that my internet provider is closing up shop and I have to navigate quotes and new options all before the end of April!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Joni, it sounds like you have a stupid problem on your hands, one with an expiration date. I’m not RC but I’m sure that St. Issy, as we’re now calling him, would be the right saint’s name to invoke. Good luck. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  11. No matter how hard I try, St. Isidore of Seville reminds me of Bugs Bunny doing the Barber of Seville.

    That’s my only deep and engaging thought for the day. What can I say – the quiz suggested I was boring 😉

    Liked by 4 people

  12. Love the links Ally – I thought the evil genius one was a good read. And I’m definitely a fan of manifestos. I absolutely vote for you to create one. Or a handful. You can never be to adamant about your declarations.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Deborah, thanks for taking a look at the links. I sometimes wonder if what I find interesting will be so for other people. Not that it seemed to stop me this time. I’ll work on a manifesto. I could do that. I need to declare a few things. Oh yes I do!

      Liked by 1 person

    • Betsy, I was reading an article about a woman who’d started a design business and she mentioned that she said a prayer to St. Isidore each day. Then she explained who he was in general, so I had to learn more about St. Issy. 😊

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      • Very cool. Catholics have cool people. I love the stories of bilocating and levitating. Best is the guy who was beheaded, picked up his head, walked with it under his arm, and kept preaching until he finally keeled over.

        Liked by 1 person

        • I enjoy learning about the saints figuring you never know when you’ll know the right one for the situation. Like today’s post about improving yourself through reading articles online, something St. Issy would approve of, I hope.

          Liked by 1 person

  15. Love this post! The failure CV may be just what my daughter needs right now to pull her way out of an existential crisis. Or not? I am contemplating sending her the link to the article where she can look at other people’s list of failures and feel better about what she perceives as her own. How do you compare to me? Does this sound like who you know me to be? 🙂
    openness to experience
    54 out of 100

    agreeableness
    88 out of 100

    conscientiousness
    71 out of 100

    negative emotionality
    46 out of 100

    extraversion
    79 out of 100

    Liked by 2 people

    • Margaret, I wonder if this link to the failure resume would help her? For me, an older woman it confirmed what I knew about my screw-ups, but as a younger version of myself it might have been instructive.

      You and I have similar OCEAN numbers, although I rate higher in openness and lower in extroversion. No surprise I suppose. These links are informative, aren’t they?

      Liked by 1 person

      • I enjoyed the test very much. My late husband was always the spontaneous one and I’m not so much that way, although I’m getting more open to it! 🙂 Teaching for 37 years made me much more of an extrovert, but I can’t maintain it for a long time. I can pretend to be extroverted for a while though! I’m still figuring out what I should do about the link. I don’t want her to feel worse than she already does.

        Liked by 1 person

        • I’m what is called an extroverted introvert. Meaning that I can maneuver among the outgoing and do quite well, but I don’t naturally feel like that. It’s a life skill. As for your daughter I have no advice. I like self-improvement information and embrace it, regardless of whether I think it pertains to me. In fact, I kind of wonder about people who aren’t open to it. I mean given the opportunity to think about the possibility of becoming more whole, who wouldn’t want to do that? No answer, just an observation…

          Liked by 2 people

  16. You find the best articles. You and Nancy of Spirit Lights The Way. I definitely need a manifesto. I also need a brownie, which has nothing to with the need for a manifesto. Or, perhaps it does.

    Liked by 2 people

    • L. Marie, thank you! I believe that your manifesto needs to include brownies. After all it is yours to do with what you want. Plus brownies are good. So sayeth I.

      Like

  17. I have it on good authority that evil geniuses are indeed more creative than non evil geniuses. Of course, I have my own Evil Genius nameplate sitting on my shelf to let people know who they are dealing with. Now I must quit typing so I can go back to rubbing my hands together while very evilly smirking…

    Liked by 2 people

    • evilsquirrel13, I have no doubt that you are an authority on evil genius, all varieties thereof. That article had a twisted title, but made sense. You know, like evil genius often does.

      Like

  18. I love the articles you shared!! And the bit about St. Isidore. I love that there is a patron saint of the Internet (because OF COURSE there would be!!). I may have to borrow some for next week’s list. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    • Katie, I like to see what other people find interesting so once in a while I do a post like this one. I had the same reaction to St. Issy. There’s a Catholic saint for every occasion. I find it fascinating.

      Like

  19. Thank you for doing the leg-work for me (us readers). I’ll be back to check out the links when my boss isn’t monitoring my structured, gotta pay the bills activities on a Friday. ;-)! TGIF!

    Liked by 2 people

  20. A patron saint for the internet. Good intentions but kind of strange. Happy to have his help though if it means a kinder more empathic community. Which is exactly what you linkups are doing, building community. Good on you, Ally.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Forestwood, I stumbled upon St. Issy’s story and had to talk about him here. I agree, if his influence can make for a kinder internet, then *yay* I hadn’t thought of this type of post as building community, but you’re right– it does. Thanks for stopping by and sharing that insight.

      Like

  21. Well this is super interesting. I learn something every time I come on here! Most importantly, isn’t it neat to get “lost in the sauce”? (Never heard that expression before and I LOVE it.) ❤

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Whenever I grumble, I tell my wife (before she calls me out), “but who am I to complain?” Saying this gives me the opp to complain but then absolves me as a sort of ‘noncomplainer’… does that make sense???

    Liked by 2 people

    • Prior…, I don’t like to waste anyone’s time so I try to add a little info about what the articles are about. A teaser or a summation, not sure which I’m doing when I write those things.

      Liked by 1 person

    • krcc, I loved these articles. I didn’t go out of my way to find them, but when I read them I had to share them here. I agree about the personality quizzes, it’s same old, same old.

      Like

    • Damyanti Biswas, I made a failure resume for myself, kind of a rough draft really. I saw a few patterns, so I learned something. But it is kind of a depressing thing to do… 😳

      Like

  26. Hi Ally Bean! I always do enjoy coming by your blog and seeing whazz up. Lately I have quit taking (and reading) these kind of articles. It always seems like I go away feeling like I don’t really fit anywhere in someone else’s idea or spectrum. It’s like somebody makes these things up and we go over there wanting answers about how to make up happier, better, etc. I think I have failed completely in the area of self-improvement and am learning to (sometimes gracefully and sometimes not) accept that grade of noncompliance. You, my dear, are too wide-open to fit into any of these categories, either. I am sure. Love.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kathy, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.

      I hear you about not fitting into any of the established niches. Many [most?] of the self-improvement articles I see don’t call to me, but occasionally I’ll click on one to see what’s the latest idea about how to make me better. I like to think I’m improving as I go along in life. Whether I fit comfortably into any specific system of self-improvement– well, that’s a toss up.

      Like

  28. Love these articles. I have to say I totally agree with the first one–not saying if I agree based on experience or not, just that I agree.

    I made a manifesto several years ago, as part of my building-confidence-as-a-writer. I haven’t looked at it in a long time, but now I’m thinking I should go check to see what I said about myself!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, I’m happy to know you liked these articles. I enjoy reading blogs with this sort of linky thing, so once in a while I do it too.

      I don’t have a manifesto, but I could use one. I hope to make one once I get the chance to sit down and think it through. I bet that reviewing your old manifesto will be enlightening, showing you how far you’ve come.

      Like

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