A New Year's Resolution: Wholeheartedness

Wholeheartedness goes a step further than sincerity or honesty. Whoever is honest does not lie and tells the truth. But he/she does not necessarily say everything and does not necessarily show himself completely with all his/her emotions. This can cause problems. Anyone who says yes when given an impossible assignment is not dishonest, but is confronted with a problem due to a lack of wholeheartedness.

In wholeheartedness, the bearer is an open book. He surrenders himself to the listener in full confidence and assumes that the listener has all the capacity to share in the joy and pain that the message brings. The wholehearted person is not only honest in words but also in posture, attitude and interest in the reaction of the other. The wholehearted person approaches the fellow human being with an audacious confidence. He/she is well aware that the listener may not like the message, but consciously acts vulnerably, with his / her imperfections, to get the message into the heart of the listener. The message is so important that all shame and fear of ridicule is overcome.

An interesting question is whether you can learn or practice wholeheartedness. It's a bit like the virtue of patience; it's a passive letting go rather than an active doing. What we have to learn to let go of is the question how we look like and today this is mainly the sensed need to appear 'cool'. It is the most horrible contemporary need by the way, because what is still so nice about being cool when everybody is cool already?

Wholeheartedness can move mountains. But the wholehearted person must lower shields and be willing to be hurt by the fellow man. Wholeheartedness takes courage. But there is something in return. Most people are good and that is why they also appreciate courage and wholeheartedness. So let us make it a very whole-heartfelt year!

Some charismatic leaders are also wholehearted. I refer to the YouTube video of Brené Brown. She doesn't only explain the concept, she also radiates in her speech what wholeheartedness is. Brené Brown on the Building Blocks of Wholeheartedness – The Marginalian

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