Personal Development for Your Life!

There is a disconnect in today’s society when it comes to character and doing the right thing.  John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim McGreevey, and many others embody the idea that character, integrity, and honor not to mention honesty are values that no longer matter in today’s society.  Many people, when confronted with their transgressions, no longer feel guilty, but instead try to rationalize and neutralize their behavior.  Some even resort to blaming the victim—anyone but themselves.  It no longer is surprising to have a known figure in the news now scrambling to do damage control over what they did.  Character and integrity take a long time to build.  It is not built on a foundation of sand where one rainstorm can wash it away, but rather, it is built over years of doing the right thing.  Honesty, being fair and consistent, walking your talk, being congruent with who you are on the inside and outside, taking 100% responsibility for your life and your actions—these are traits that embody character.  When you are truly in touch with who you are, building and keeping character is not an issue because it is a natural way of being in the world. Faced with temptations, there is no need to succumb because you will be secure in who you are.  There is no damage control or apologies to be made because the behavior was never acted upon.  Guilt is a strong motivator for those with character, and those who lack it explain their guilt away and give away their power instead of owning their responsibility.  Our modern-day heroes have become the everyday people who live their lives in integrity and with character.  It is hard to not follow the crowd, not to emulate our now fallen “heroes” in the media, to say “no” to things that are not right.  Temptation is everywhere as is peer pressure.  When we know ourselves from the inside, when we become whole human beings, we won’t feel a need to give in to temptation; we won’t feel a need to explain away our actions or blame or shame others for our transgressions.  Instead, we know in our hearts that we are 100% responsible for our actions.

~Nicole Nenninger