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17

Character

What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

HENRY JAMES

1843–1916

WHEN, AS A CHILD, I was told to do something that was ‘character building’, I knew I would hate it. Those two words always filled me with dread. I also found it very odd that the two things I loved most, singing and reading, were not deemed character building but simply ‘hobbies’.

Freezing walks in the rain, with the wind howling not just around me but through me, chilling my body to the bone, was supposed to be good for me, as was sport, which was agony.

Writing essays, however, was a doddle for me. Unfortunately, my English teacher did not like my style and said I did not fill the paper with enough detailed description. I was not, obviously, going to become a great literary writer, because endless descriptive passages bored me to tears (and, I have to admit, still do). Not one teacher had the sense to suggest that I might become a good journalist.

My first job as a messenger carrying printing plates to all the major newspapers and magazines in Fleet Street was the true beginning of my character building – long hours running up and down the stairs in every building, people shouting because the blocks were late, and returning to base in tears, thinking that I would rather be dead than carry on. But I had promised my mother that I would give a few shillings a week to the family income and had resolved not to let her down.

In the end it is your own spirituality that gives you the blueprint to build character. Those character building bricks are stacked up in your own psyche waiting to be released when you are strong enough to mix the cement to hold them together.

Visualisation: You have promised a friend that you will always be there for them. One day you receive a call from them asking for help. Unfortunately, you are going through a difficult time yourself and do not feel able to carry out your original promise at this time. What are you going to do? Ignore the plea for help? Meet them and explain your own predicament? Or suggest that you give each other mutual support? Whatever you decide, do not forget that you need to be balanced spiritually and physically to maintain the whole.

Affirmation: To build character I need balance.