Why We Hold On To Character Flaws
The Principle of Character: Daily I choose to identify and eliminate character flaws and fortify my character strengths.
Removing character flaws from our lives is sometimes a difficult process. There are many reasons why we may choose to hold on to a character flaw in spite of the pain and turmoil it causes in our lives. Here are 3 of the biggest reasons:
- We don’t view it as a character flaw.
- We are unaware of it.
- We think it will be too painful to remove it.
If we don’t view a particular behavior as a character flaw it is difficult, if not impossible to get it removed. Only after we finally realize how our character flaw has hurt ourselves and other people will we even consider taking action on it. One way to overcome this difficult situation is to let other people talk openly about how they view you. Open yourself up for some criticism and you will see a side to yourself that you never knew existed.
The next situation is when we are unaware of our character flaw. This is very similar to the situation mentioned above. The easiest way to uncover this is to let other people in. Allow yourself to be viewed from another person’s perspective and you will get fresh insight into the inner workings of yourself and how you can improve. As with the previous reason, make sure that you are prepared to hear what someone else may say. You may not like it, but if done correctly, it will be extremely beneficial.
The third reason is that you simple think it will be too painful to remove the defect. This is a situation that will cause you to live in an environment of ever increasing pain. To remove the character defect you need to relate more pain to continuing to let it exist than you do to removing it. Visualization will help a great deal to helping you achieve this. Visualize yourself living with this character defect; project your visualization one, five, ten and twenty years into the future. Feel the pain and failure that it has caused in your life. Next, visualize the opposite; project your visualization one, five, ten and twenty years into the future. Feel the freedom and success you have experienced in your life by overcoming this obstacle. If done correctly for several weeks, you will be willing to part with this flaw.
As with all of our character flaws, ask God to reveal them to you. Ask him to remove them and He will!