By Shannon Silva
Shannon Silva is a Virtues Project Facilitator and the Founder of Unstoppable Women of Silicon Valley.

By planning your day with the virtues in mind, not only will you make progress on your goals, you will develop your personal character and cultivate more meaning and purpose into your day. I call this Virtues-Centered Planning, because it is planning centered around the virtues. 

My favorite way to plan the day is to use the virtues to guide me. Dictionary.com defines Virtues as conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles. The Virtues Project defines virtues as the very meaning and purpose of our lives, the content of our character and the truest expression of our souls. Virtues are the content of our character, the elements of the human spirit. They grow stronger whenever we use them.

By Ellen Menna. She is the Treasurer for the Virtues Circle.

By Jessica Scott

Have you ever watched a sunset in awe or seen a rainbow cast its magnificent colors across the sky after a storm? What about lying on your back and gazing upon the glittered night sky in wonderment of how vast and amazing this universe is and where does it go and where did it begin? When is the last time you felt that sense of curiosity? Being a person of wonder and awe of the mysteries and beauty that is life, is a greater way to tap into a more enriching and meaningful life. Having that keen sense of curiosity to not just understand, but enjoy all of the gifts life has to offer connects us to our creativity and our higher purpose.  

In the wake of the shooting at a predominately African-American church in Charleston, SC which left  9 dead, including the pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, I look for the virtues that would have prevented such a senseless crime. I’m drawn to the Virtue of Humanity, which is “an attitude of caring and mercy towards all people.”[1] Our Humanity frees us from prejudice and reminds us of our common bond with all people. Humanity is what the group at Emanual African Methodist Episcopal Church showed when they welcomed Dylan Roof to join their bible study. We are in touch with our Humanity when we no longer separate ourselves from others based on outside characteristics likes race or gender. 

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.    ~Mahatma Gandhi