Læknablaðið - 01.06.1961, Side 39

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
71
them would liave been tlie avail-
ability and utilization of good
food, adequate clothing, suffi-
cient sunshine and contact with
nature, adequate housing and
medical care. We might come
on otlier assets sucli as aptitudes
and skills, innate or acquired
and both developed, a talent
and maybe even a gift. Advan-
tageous also would be an edu-
cation, training or experience
in a specialized field or the fact
of having acquired a profession.
What do we mean when we
say it is an asset if a person
has been able to learn and to
grow through and from life
experience? The following is a
partial picture. All of us have
the capacitiees to feel, think,
will and act. The maintenance
of some aliveness of genuine
feelings, the ability to have
small pleasures even in the
midst of adversity and a sense
of hurnor with regard to one-
self and life are indeed assets.
A person who has the experi-
ence of having taken healthy
stands in immediate personal
matters, or in broader human
affairs, has maintained some
contact with his convictions,
with his will to fight for what
lie believes. If he can recall in-
cidents where he felt his judg-
ment regarding himself and
others had been sound, and that
the actions based on such reas-
oning had been warranted, he
has had some experience in self-
reliance in human affairs. If
in addition he could retrospect-
ively, honestly say liere or tliere
that his judgementhasbeen poor
and his actions impulsive or
compulsive, he is indeed a wiser
person. Add to these, learning
that lias come from suffering
through critical participation in
life and we have some of the
elements of wisdom. Closely
connected are the capacity to
tolerate psychic pain with which
often goes a degree of integrit5r
and a .capacity to face the truth
squarely. When a patient also
lias a capacity for psycholgical
thinking, his assets have been
measurably added to.
Although I said that I would
first focus on assets in the indi-
vidual, it can he seen that many
are inextricably hound up with
environmental factors just as
the environmental assets which
I will now mention cannot be-
come meaningful without the
individual’s participation. Cru-
cial among tliese is continuity
of a family structure, in which
the emotional climate was in
a measure harmonious or at
least consistent. Continuity and
consistency are essential re-
quirements for developing hum-
an relatedness through actual
experiencing. This becomes
more possible wlien the family
have lived for longer periods,
particularly in the patient’s