Quotes from Fred Kiel

We humans are born with intuitions, drives, and personality traits that determine how we interact with the world around us. These dispositions—both inherited and acquired—lie at the very core of who we are as human beings.8

Each of us constantly makes decisions about how to interact with other people, and each of those decisions has the potential to either harm or enhance the other person's well-being.

Wilson also makes a powerful point when he says that strong character leads to the integrated self—a joining of head and heart, where thoughts, feelings, and actions are in harmony, resulting in behavior that demonstrates the character of an individual who walks the talk of his or her belief system.

We reveal our character all the time through observable behaviors: in the way we treat other people. As we mature, these character-driven behaviors become automatic reflexes, the character habits that express our guiding principles and beliefs.

In essence, our behavior is a product of our genetic makeup and basic human nature filtered and honed through the environments, experiences, and relationships that form our life journey. Together, these factors—governed by both our nature and the nurturing we receive—help shape the belief system and moral habits that form our character, and in turn, trigger the habitual behaviors that express it.

The work involved in exploring your own nature, identifying weaknesses in your character, and then working to overcome them can be difficult and even painful. But as with all transformative change, the outcomes can more than compensate for the work of achieving them. You may be the only person in your life who is unaware of the shortcomings in your character.