WORDS
“Since the IPH Center team is mostly remote, I look for different ways to stay connected and help build a culture.
One small attempt is by sharing a word — often obscure — but with some relevance to our work.”
— Dr. John Lyons
Apothegm
When we use an apothegm to guide how we think about things or to help with our decisions, it becomes a heuristic. Originally, the concept heuristics focused on biased or poor decision-making, ala Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky. But in TCOM, we reclaim heuristics to assist in making good decisions. I suspect that if we thought about our lives, we could identify apothegms that have given us comfort and peace and guided our decisions. They have become personal heuristics.
Perhaps apothegms are the source of positive heuristics? What are your favorite and most influential apothegms?
I often find mine in song lyrics.
Mine is an apothegm that pushes back on a heuristic (now I’m feeling dizzy) that has always seemed trauma un-informed …in Frank Turner’s song If Ever I Stray, he sings “Things didn’t kill me but I don’t feel stronger.”