I am becoming accustomed to talking about my intelligence as a Relational Intelligence. What changed for me is how I interacted with people. I have gotten a lot better at finding the things people hold deeply to. While I still have trouble with this next bit, I practice allowing people to have the deeply held anchors in their linguistic realities and use these as guides as I get to know someone. The way in which each of us use words as a whole, our way will never align 100% with anyone. We are taught generally that language is a dictation meant for a dictionary, so I once practiced semantic debate and arguments. But the reality I find more fitting nowadays is that beneath our sense of meaning from one word to the next is our heart and our will. There is a primacy in understanding another person's practice before their philosophies or pathologies/psychology. Ultimately I have found the practice is what incorporates the words and feelings of a person and becomes a bridge between the objective meaning of a word and the subjective feeling of a word. Practice also becomes the catalyst for change in one's philosophies and psychology. Finally, practice becomes the thing that allows more space to grow in these areas. I heard recently the story you told about the Taoist sage and the pupil. The one where every time the sage talked, the pupil would say, "I know, I know." The sage decides to pour the pupil some tea, and he doesn't stop pouring until the pupil is moved to speak as the cup runs over, telling the sage that the cup is already full. And the point the sage was making is that the pupil should empty their cup before trying to fill it again. That for me looks like the integration of my current psychology (habits, unexplored emotions/triggers, seasonal cycles) with my philosophies (ultimate guiding principles, higher-self thinking) into my daily practice. One I have been able to successfully integrate these things into my daily, weekly, monthly, yearly cycle (whatever the case may be), then my cup is empty and ready to be filled again.

This is the book I've been most into recently. In terms of higher thoughts and questions... I have been thinking most about absolution and forgiveness. Very long order thoughts.

@Joe Cindy Absolutely. One of the main aims of the writer was to validate our indigenous practices and worldview through the language of the scientific in order to make a push for acceptance of our ancestral ways in the Philippines.