KNOW YOURSELF
Well over two thousand years ago, Socrates advised, “Know yourself.” This could mean different things to different folks.
To determine what this means to you, think of two sides of yourself: your personality and your character. Since some people tend to confuse these two features, let’s take a look at the difference between personality and character.
For one thing, personality is a reflection of your natural qualities. To name a few examples: optimism vs. pessimism, the ability to sing on key, a sense of humor, the pace and speed of your behavior, athletic ability, your specific kind of intelligence, being sociable or solitary and your capacity to sense other people’s moods and feelings.
Character, on the other hand, has more to do with your choices, your values and your behavior. Character qualities include, among others: work ethic, honesty, integrity, loyalty, courage, humility, maturity, the desire to help and reliability.
We don’t usually think about such things. But when a personal crisis arises, such as a health challenge, divorce or the loss of a job, we’d profit greatly to think about them.
If you need some help in how to do this, simply jot the words “personality” and “character” on a piece of paper, leaving plenty of space, and write what you know about yourself under each of the two categories.
As you think about yourself, you might come up with something like this:
PERSONALITY
Am I …
Tense or Easy-going
Shy or Outgoing
Self-confident or Self-doubting
Sensible and Patient or Impulsive
Spontaneous or Well-organized
Motor-mouth or Slow to speak
Fast-moving or Sluggish
Clumsy or Graceful
Sense of humor or Humorless
Emotional or Cool-headed
Charming or Boring
CHARACTER
Am I …
Wise or Foolish
Honest or Deceitful
Dependable or Unreliable
Self-controlled or Undisciplined
Hard working or Lazy
Humble or Proud
Patient or Impatient
Caring or Selfish
Respectful or Contemptuous
Brave or Cowardly
Kind or Mean
Polite or Rude
Loyal or Disloyal
If you’re going through a tough time, and you’re not very used to thinking about such things … and you think you might benefit from feedback … please feel free to call 219-309-3928. I’d be honored to be of service.
Thanks for reading!