By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://whizzbangsblog.com/

3 minutes reading time (548 words)

Saturday Musings – It’s All About Character

20180317_character2

Over the last few weeks I’ve been unpacking the traits of truth, trust and learning and how they’ve helped me in my own personal relationships. A good way of thinking about the principles is as the three points of a triangle. In this article I’m going to explore what is in the centre of all of us…..our character.

Escrow.com

Many people confuse doing good as their character. Doing good is the result of good character and NOT character in itself. What is character? One dictionary defines good character as:

“The stable and distinctive qualities built into an individual’s life which determine his or her response regardless of circumstances.”


A stable person often has a set of values that form the bedrock of their life. These values determine how they interact with others and how they respond to circumstances. Notice, that I haven’t made a judgement call on what the values are.

Some people have a value of selfishness that results in every interaction they have being focused on benefiting them. From their perspective life is all about accumulating more rather than giving out.

I’ve met other people that have a character trait of servanthood. You find these types of people helping out wherever they can, and are happy as long as other people are being lifted up from their own circumstances.

In my diagram below the character traits of truth, trust and learning provide a safeguard against developing a “bad” character trait. For example, it’s very difficult to become self-centred if you are wanting trusting relationships.

Truth, Trust and Learning

A good way to think of truth, trust and learning is as the guardians of your heart. We’re all not perfect but if we keep on focusing on how we interact with others then we are much less likely to inadvertently develop bad foundations in our life.

If our character determines how we react to circumstances, then how did it first get developed and was this a good way? Most people don’t consciously work on their character but rather just roll on through life. They are blissfully ignorant of the fact that their character is what is guiding their reactions to others.

I’ve said to my own children (who are now adults) that the biggest adventure in life is discovering things about yourself. It’s also often the most difficult journey as you look in the mirror and recognise a character trait that may need “a little work”. The thing about character is it takes a huge amount of effort and time to bring even a small change.

There’s no quick fixes when it comes to your character. We can be working on a bad temper and fall into the trap of yelling at a colleague…..we feel terrible because we’ve failed yet again. That’s OK, because one of our heart’s guardians is learning. Apologise to the person you yelled at and move on.

The questions I would like to leave you with are; “Why do you respond the way you do?” Do you control your behaviour, or do you find yourself reacting to circumstances? Do you need some time-out to go and ponder your life and become deterministic about developing your character in a positive manner?

All good questions that I hope you get a chance to think about across this weekend.

Cheers!

Michael

What is Traffic Quality
The Power in a Learning Mindset

Related Posts

 

Comments

Rawgi on 18 March 2018
Character

I can't really say when I developed my Character, but it was at an early age. I choose to help others deal with stressful situations as they pertain to construction and our homes. This way has helped me be more attentive to most everything in daily life. I like to find solutions that help all of those involved, so each person can be reasonably OK with the outcome. So far not perfect, but usually works out good. The thing to look out for, is not becoming too pessimistic in trying to be prepared for what might occur.

When I read about your indoor lake, my first thought was to find a leak detection service we have access to here. Or wish I could tell where the corroded pipe was under the concrete. What I mean is, I wanted to fix your problem, not just say glad it wasn't my home. Sorry for rambling.

I can't really say when I developed my Character, but it was at an early age. I choose to help others deal with stressful situations as they pertain to construction and our homes. This way has helped me be more attentive to most everything in daily life. I like to find solutions that help all of those involved, so each person can be reasonably OK with the outcome. So far not perfect, but usually works out good. The thing to look out for, is not becoming too pessimistic in trying to be prepared for what might occur. When I read about your indoor lake, my first thought was to find a leak detection service we have access to here. Or wish I could tell where the corroded pipe was under the concrete. What I mean is, I wanted to fix your problem, not just say glad it wasn't my home. Sorry for rambling.
mgilmour on 18 March 2018

As always, I really enjoy reading your comments Rawgi. You'll be happy to hear that we finally have everything back in order and the lake in our bedroom has been well and truly drained.

As always, I really enjoy reading your comments Rawgi. You'll be happy to hear that we finally have everything back in order and the lake in our bedroom has been well and truly drained.
Rawgi on 19 March 2018

I don't know about your side of the world, but these guys can pinpoint the leak to within 10 inches or less. I have had them find a leak and then I did the repairs, Usually on the hot water side.

I do understand how your domain business works, but haven't had the chance to try that yet.

I don't know about your side of the world, but these guys can pinpoint the leak to within 10 inches or less. I have had them find a leak and then I did the repairs, Usually on the hot water side. I do understand how your domain business works, but haven't had the chance to try that yet.
Guest - Jeff Schneider on 19 March 2018
" The Truth Matters - It's everything. It's your Integrity "

The Domaining Industry is full of ( Trust lost ) victims, because of putting certain Sponsors of their Blogs interests over their readerships best interests. Any Domaining Blog that chooses to Censor Comments,Raises a Red Flag. To your great credit Michael, your Blog allows all comments as valuable sources of evaluating open avenues to truth. Kudos Michael
JAS

Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Intelligence Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master) http://www.UseBiz.com

The Domaining Industry is full of ( Trust lost ) victims, because of putting certain Sponsors of their Blogs interests over their readerships best interests. Any Domaining Blog that chooses to Censor Comments,Raises a Red Flag. To your great credit Michael, your Blog allows all comments as valuable sources of evaluating open avenues to truth. Kudos Michael JAS Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Intelligence Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master) http://www.UseBiz.com
mgilmour on 19 March 2018

Thank you for your comment Jeff. I think that in over 11 years of blogging i've only censored a couple of comments that were vindictive to other readers. I'm a big proponent that we can all learn from each other as long as we remain civil and courteous.

Thank you for your comment Jeff. I think that in over 11 years of blogging i've only censored a couple of comments that were vindictive to other readers. I'm a big proponent that we can all learn from each other as long as we remain civil and courteous.
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Saturday, 02 November 2024
If you'd like to register, please fill in the username, password and name fields.

Captcha Image