Day 50 (Fifty) of 365 days

Willingness to be taught, to learn and to grow. The Latin word "Docere" means to teach, and it's where we get the words doctor and doctrine. Docility is the virtue of obedience and the openness to be taught. It's about being open to new ideas and gaining truthful knowledge and applying it in our lives.

If men learned only by discovery - each seeking out the truth entirely by himself - studiousness would be sufficientt. But men also learn by instruction; in fact, that is the way most men learn for the most part. I place docility in the group of virtues annexed to justice, for it consists in rendering to teachers what is due. As we owe piety to God as the source of our being, and to our parents as the source of our becoming, so docility is a kind of piety toward teachers as among the source of our learning. We cannot be instructed by our peers, or are least not in the respects in which there is peerage or equality in knowledge. Unless the teacher has an authority which comes from greater knowledge or skill, he cannot justly be our master, nor need to be docile as his students.

To be able to act meaningfully, we need to see ourselves from the position of the other, and to do this, we need to take the role of the other i.e predisposition to submit to others. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to shine in any sphere in which they choose to exert themselves, and others cannot manage even a glimmer despite obvious talent? It's the way they think about their ability that counts. Docility helps to inculcate a growth mindset that makes us believe we need to work hard and keep going if we must meet our goals.

You can learn and teach others about how to develop and improve their abilities by adopting the virtue of docility. This will help you to take control of your life, which is hugely empowering.