Display Good Traits

Do we display good traits?  When people look at us what do they see?  As my friend, Brandon Johnson, would ask, “What kind of energy are we putting out to the world?”  Are we making it better or worse?  Are people happy we are here because we contribute to the betterment of all, or are we just sucking the energy from everyone with our negative thinking? Are we just taking up space?

We must first define what a “good trait” is. We can define good as what gives to the world; it is what makes this a better place.  A trait is how that good is manifested through us.

Good traits could be things like:

• Compassion
• Empathy
• Gratitude
• Hard work
• Caring
• Building up others
• Honesty

Everyone’s list may be different, but they will have common characteristics. This is because our self and collective conscience know what “good” is.  It isn’t up for debate, although we could debate the order and importance of each trait.  Make your own list.  Decide what traits you consider good. If you wanted people to say what kind of person you are, what would that look like?

So, how do we display good traits?  What would each of us do to manifest them?

I think the first thing is to become aware manifesting good traits is a conscious decision.  We must decide we want to manifest them.  If we had a planning session every morning, decided and committed to displaying one good trait today, made a plan for it, and then did it each and every day… imagine what the end of the year would look like!  We would have consciously done something to display a good trait for 365 days.  What if we did this every day for the rest of our lives?

We can plan all we want, but the most important part is actually doing it! Once we have made the decision we must accomplish the thing.  Execution is way more important than planning.  Assume you decide you are going to show empathy as your good trait today; what are you actually going to do?  How will it be made manifest?  Could you volunteer at the homeless shelter, go read to children, spend some time at a nursing home, listen more to your children’s problems? No one has to know what trait you’ve picked out but you.

Finally, evaluate and consider how you’re doing.  Once a day or once a week, journal what you did, how you displayed the trait you chose, and what the results were.  Then, decide if it was worth it. How did showing this trait make you feel? How did it make the world a better place?

Imagine if everyone in your family did this, everyone in your community, everyone in our nation.  What if, instead of finding ways to bitch, complain, and criticize we focused instead on manifesting good traits?  I challenge you, and myself, to improve the world by doing exactly that.

Keep Living Every Minute,

Dr. Tim