My goal is to establish a positive focus every morning by focusing on a positive word or phrase. There are enough negative influences in the world, and I believe that through a conscious focus of thought, we can improve our emotions, words, and actions and make the world a better place one thought, feeling, word, and move at a time.   What is Your character today?  

Character Is

The mental and moral qualities an individual possesses determine the contents of nature.  This benefit is not something you are born with; it is a force you manage throughout your life. Character is a series of daily choices you make in where you spend your attention, your time, and, most importantly, how you choose to deal with other people.

Your character is ever-evolving and can be redefined many times throughout your life.  Today, at this moment, is the only chance you have to reveal what you are made of, and that makes all of your decisions valuable to what you are and the energy you produce each day. Character is what you do when you think nobody is looking.  Remember, you are always looking. You can’t fool yourself.  Consciously develop the style you want to represent you.

The Shifting Sands of Character

When you are born, you do not have any character. As you grow in life, you make choices in how you deal with others and what you accept for yourself, which will define you to the world.  It is important to remember that if you behave selfishly or negatively towards others, that defines your character and is who you are.  Focus on the things you do in each moment, the decisions you make, the actions you take, and the thoughts you are focusing on in your life.  Do they honor you? At the end of your life, when you look back at this moment, is it going to be one that you are proud of representing you?

If it isn’t, then you have a chance to change your outlook by making more positive choices.  Each moment contains a decision: to be happy or sad, kind or mean, loving or fearful, the sum of your options will define your character.  Once you understand you can develop that character, you have no excuse not to become a better person.  Two simple things are involved:  honesty about who you are and a willingness to grow and improve. Only your self-imposed limitations can stop you from progressing.

Set Goals, Be Better

When you look at yourself and your thoughts and behaviors, honestly, there will be two categories: Things you are doing well and things you want to improve.  Look at your choices, which enhance and display the character you wish to possess.  Enjoy them and feel good about who you are! Then look at where improvement is needed.  Set some goals to become better, and then take action by implementing them in your life.  If you feel you need to be kinder to people, then make that a conscious focus of your day.  When you see a deficit in generosity, then look for ways to be more generous with the positive things in your life.   Don’t deceive yourself; your character results from the daily conscious or subconscious choices you make daily. Only you decide this.

Why Character is Important

Developing your character matters because it will define who you are and how you contribute to the world.  All people are complicated, and we possess both the capability for great good and great evil.  The conscious choices we make determine the path we walk down.   Your preferences for the character will decide who you are in this life.   Are you a positive force for good, or do you choose to be a negative force for evil? That is why our character has value. It determines the choices we have made in the world and how we decide to work with life.

It is a constant battle inside every person to maintain the positive qualities of honesty over deceit, kindness over meanness, giving over selfishness, confidence over doubt, or love over fear.  Your value to the world and its collective experience is defined and determined by your character’s choices. Developing a better character is going to make the world collectively more positive.

Challenge today

The simple challenge today is to examine your choices right now with clarity and honesty.  Where are they leading you?  Define the areas you are doing well and feel positive about it.  Define the improvement that is needed and create goals to become better.  The character you define is your own, and you are solely responsible for the kind of person you will be today and in this life.

Quotes on Character

“Most people say that it’s the intellect which makes a great scientist, and they are wrong: it is character.” – Albert Einstein.

“Character is the result of two things: Mental attitude and the way we spend our time.”  – Elbert Hubbard

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character” – Albert Einstein

“Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have” –Unknown