The Content of Your Character
People of outstanding character stand out for us. We respect them. We admire them. We would prefer to be more like them.
What is it that drives the quality of one’s character? Heredity? Past experiences? Current environment?
No, no, and no.
Character is not something that is bestowed upon us. Nor is it inherited.
Rather, it is shaped. By us.
In every moment, we are refining our character – for better or worse. And it all starts with a choice, albeit mostly unconscious, for the thoughts we’re thinking and the actions we’re taking.
As the philosopher Heraclitus points out, what we think about and what we do is who we become.
Wayne Dyer would often say, “You become what you think about, as does the world.”
Our thoughts lead to the reality we experience.
So if we want to enhance the caliber of our character, we need to pay attention to our thoughts. And when those thoughts aren’t aligned with the character we’d like to develop, we gently nudge them aside and choose again.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. so powerfully suggested, let the content of our character be representative of who we are.
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