Personality expresses how we feel about our experiences.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. Human society is a panoply of different types—introverts, extroverts, optimists, pessimists, artistic sorts, logical thinkers, etc. Just about any combination of traits we can imagine is expressed in the human race. This is a good thing; we need folks of all different natures and skill sets for humans to thrive, as a whole.
Certainly genetics have a role in molding our temperament, at least initially. But our life experiences have an ongoing formative effect in shaping how we view life and interact with others. Our past experiences and our accompanying emotions form the basis for our beliefs, giving rise to our thoughts, which help generate future events. How we feel about what has happened and is happening creates our distinctive character, in turn influencing future events.
Today’s message asks me to take an objective look at my personality and how my feelings determine it. If there are aspects of myself that don’t seem useful or don’t make me happy, I can shift my beliefs and feelings, to hone my personality to be more functional, joyful, and peaceful. I create my own nature.
How about you? How has the past influenced your personality?