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Today's
quotation:
Character
isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and
acts,
thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or
hate or anger
take possession of the mind, they become self-forged
chains.
Helen
Gahagan Douglas
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Today's
Meditation:
Sometimes
it's kind of scary to think that character is our own
responsibility, that the people we are, are the people
we've been developing ourselves to be, "thought by
thought, action by action." It's okay if I'm a
kind and compassionate person all the time, someone whose
character is predominantly positive, helpful, and
uplifting. But if there are flaws in my character,
moments of anger and jealousy and such, then that is
something that I've built, and that's not such a positive
idea.
Of
course, it could be that those flaws are just what we need
to grow and develop and become kinder and compassionate
people. Perhaps those times when we let fear take
over are the times we need to learn something important
from making a huge mistake that was fear-driven.
Perhaps that anger that we feel is a way that our spirits
have contrived to expose a deep-seated flaw that truly
needs to be dealt with.
I
know what kind of character I would like to have, but I'm
not at all sure what it takes to develop that kind of
character. I do my best to do so, but how am I
doing? The simple answer to that question is that I
don't know. I can only keep on keeping on, keep on
doing what I think is best for developing myself into a
character that shows the characteristics that I truly
value in human beings.
My
character is up to me, of course. I can't blame the
ways I act and the things I do on others, for it's all on
me. It's important that I learn how to serve others
without thought of recompense, that I share my resources
with others, and that I treat others with kindness and
compassion all the time, or else I'm not being anything
similar to the person I would hope to be. The choice
is always up to me-- it's up to me today, and it will be up
to me tomorrow.
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