Ed N. Smith October 4th 2026 Read on inpursuitofvirtue.com The Circle of Life You may have heard of the four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice. Virtues make you happy: a fully-flourishing human being. St Thomas Aquinas broke these cardinal virtues down into smaller sub virtues. This is exciting, because it makes it easy to understand how you can work on strengthening yourself in specific, concrete areas. Dr Andrew Abela arranged these sub virtues into a wheel, as...

Ed N. Smith September 19th 2026 Read on inpursuitofvirtue.com It's not as hard as you think. What does it mean to be virtuous? People often think that a virtuous action is hard or requires a significant mental effort or act of the will to achieve. You can probably think of yourself as "forcing" yourself to do something when you don't particularly want to do it. You know, though, that it'll be good for you and later you will thank current you. For example, doing your housework, cooking a...

Ed N. Smith January 1st 2026 Read on inpursuitofvirtue.com On Alarm Clocks, Smartphones, and Happiness Africa by Toto wakes me up, my phone screen flinging fluorescent light into my face. It's 6.30am so I hit snooze. 6.40am. 6.50am. Yikes, I've got 2 minutes to shower and leave or I won't get to work on time. I feel hollow from lack of sleep. Dang, there are no ironed shirts left. Definitely a jumper day, then. Dang — why oh why did I keep scrolling mindlessly until the small hours? Oh yes,...