How Character Works, and Why You Want It

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. – Helen Keller

Well, she would know.

The beauty of the truth of how character is developed is that it gives us two amazing gifts.

One: we get to discover that we can things we thought we couldn’t and we learn we’re strong, wiser, kinder and better than we might have thought.

Two: we learn what we don’t want. What we’re unwilling to endure again. What we will chose differently so as to never have to experience again.

One key aspect of character is knowing what you want, what you don’t want and making the choices – difficult or otherwise – to create something else.

Similar Posts

  • Discipline & Two Kinds of Freedom

    I was reading a recent AdvantEdge newsletter from Nightingale Conant and wanted to excerpt a paragraph from something Zig Ziglar wrote about discipline: Stay Disciplined in your Approach In today’s social climate, many people look with disfavor on the word discipline because they simply do not understand that discipline means “to instruct or educate, to…

  • Does It (Actually) Work?

    I was talking with someone who said they weren’t really saving much anymore. He said he was using an online finances tracker that integrates with his accounts and tracks expenditures, income and assets but despite long-time use, just about everything that was coming in was going right back out. For me this begs a question:…

  • Why Are We Here, Really?

    The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us. – Marianne Williamson What is the purpose of a seed? To germinate and grow into something; a mighty oak for example. What is the purpose of your life? Well, you’ve already germinated, what are you growing into? Are you…

  • And You Have SO Much Left

    Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts.  It’s what you do with what you have left. – Hubert Humphrey People discount themselves all the time. Unfortunately many focus on what’s gone wrong or what they don’t have or what seems out-of-reach. It’s the focus that causes the problem. We have…

  • The Dynamic Nature of Trust

    Trust is not static. It’s either growing or dying. It’s true for our relationship with our Self or others. I had a realization (it’s what prompted this post… ) that it’s not enough to be kind to those we know and “neutral” to others. Because rationing our kindness – even if its not conscious – creates doubt…