Have you ever tried to know what makes a person an above-average individual? What are the signs of a mindful person? Are you an intellectual one or not? Talking about others - do you want to find the sincerity and loyalty of people in your circle? Do you wish to know whom you can trust?

For all the questions, if there is a 'yes' then, you are reading the right article. In this article, you will read traits of an honest, loving, and mindful person. Without wasting any time, let's get straight into it! Following are the traits of an above-above people:


Controlling own reactions

You, me, everyone has authority to control their reactions — if they so prefer to commit to grasping the habit. This principle of reaction and perception is a core element of stoic doctrine.

We do not hold what happens most of the time. We cannot handle markets or climate, traffic, or the behaviors of others. But, we can always control our reactions. And history’s best understood that is what counts most — that it’s not what occurs, but our response that confines our dimensions, our outcomes, and our lives.


Considering happiness a choice

Abraham Lincoln once said that we are as happy as we can make up our minds to become so. As garish as it sounds, contentment is a decision, often a daily one, and yet most people turn it into a conditional compensation.

Money, career, and success play a role, but when there are CEOs and movie stars who are miserable, there’s more to happiness than that. Things can only take us so far. There is an internal aspect, and it is this: to permit yourself to be happy.


Asking for help

“Do not be embarrassed to require assistance. Like a fighter storming a barrier, you have a task to complete. And if you get injured and need a companion to pull you up? So what is wrong with that?” — Marcus Aurelius.

Requesting for help takes courage. Be genuine with yourself and others. It carries a particular portion of humility to accept this, but it is also an act of power — Aurelius, as powerful as he was as Rome’s ruler, comprehended this very nicely, and so can we.


Discovering a purpose in life

  • Why are you here?
  • What is your purpose?
  • Why God created you?

People who rise above the norm, who achieve their unique form of greatness, know the answers to those questions. Having an explicit, defined objective, often documented down as Dale Carnegie did in his more immature years, influences organizing your effort, fetching your power to endure on something palpable, invariant, and directed.

Yet numerous people function hard and go in circles, never having represented and developed a life they want. It is as Marcus Aurelius recorded in his journal: “People who struggle all their lives but have no purpose towards thought and inspiration are wasting their time — even when tough at work.”


Kindness and generosity

Kindness is a characteristic of a great and noble soul and is a trait seen by philosophy as a power rather than a weakness. Not false, weak, coward, egotistical kindness that has many strings attached, but the genuine. The strong and unfettered one that only gives and asks nothing in return from anyone.

Marcus Aurelius, in his time the most influential person in the known world as the majesty of Rome, wrote that kindness, as long as it is without taffy or insincerity, is unconquerable. It is a power to be cherished and nurtured.


Good listening, less talking

Listening is an excellent skill, and to hear to somebody, to truthfully hear, is the signature of an above-average individual, for most individuals are not good listeners even though they think that they are.

As Epictetus once said, we have two ears and one mouth to listen twice as much as we speak. To stand apart from the rest, one should become a good listener and selective speaker. As Tim Denning also said, there is power in talking less.


Taking responsibility for actions

“You have to create your life by yourself — step after step. And be pleased if each one attains its goal, as far as it can. No one can hold that from occurring.” — Marcus Aurelius.

One of the characteristics of great men is taking responsibility for their lives, careers, growth, wins, and failures, for their misbehaviors, and everything. And as Marcus said, only we can build our own lives, only we can make our fantasies come true.

No other soul can bring you to where you desire to move. Others can support you. Yes, but everything starts and ends with your movement. You must accept responsibility for and prepare a life step by step.

That means not condemning others or events too. It means not yielding so low as to play the blame game, which wastes both time and energy. Epictetus once said that small-minded individuals condemn others, average ones condemn themselves, but the wise see all blame as stupidity.


Intellectual Humbleness

Our minds are only as receptive as it is humble. People who think that they know everything are indeed fools. As Epictetus and many other thinkers taught, a great individual is the one who accepts the limits of his knowledge and seeks not to be the right but only simple truth.

Marcus Aurelius also showed this same scholarly humbleness:

“If an individual can confirm me mistaken and show me my blunder in any view or effort, I shall happily learn. I seek the reality, which never damaged anyone: the harm is to last in one’s self-deception and thoughtlessness.”


Loving and caring

“If you desired to be loved, love.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A life without love is vague and hollow. Possessions, victory, strength, stardom — it all fails if you are in it alone.

Above-average individuals are loaded with love and care for others and are not scared to deliver it. So for those we share our lives with, as Marcus Aurelius noted, let us treat them with love, authentic love. You do not need to be a rich man to be generous. All you require is love. Therefore, spread true love.

If you want to know how we can manage stress, click here. For knowing how to fight against daily criticism, click here. And to know about how we heal, click here.

Think and Reflect!