Tuesdays Writing Prompt: Can You Change Your Personality?
I ask because there are parts of my personality I would like to change. Actually a lot.
- I’d like to be less judgmental
- Ask fewer questions and let life unfold naturally
- I often put my foot in my mouth and hurt other people’s feelings
- I worry nonstop
- I do the work and then I hide it
- I feel as though life has sucked the passion out of me. I do not love with my whole heart.
- I’m somewhat of a doormat and do not express my true feelings
- I’m not a tidy person. Somewhat disorganized.
Ok. So. Can I change my personality. An interesting article popped up on my phone called My Bad Personality and Me by Olga Khazan, suggesting ways to change our personalities. Give it a read before doing the writing prompt.
“Psychologists say that personality is made up of five traits: extroversion, or how sociable you are; conscientiousness, or how self-disciplined and organized you are; agreeableness, or how warm and empathetic you are; openness, or how receptive you are to new ideas and activities; and neuroticism, or how depressed or anxious you are. People tend to be happier and healthier when they score higher on the first four traits and lower on neuroticism.” Olga Khazan.
Thinking of your personality, how would you rate these five traits for yourself?
The article suggests that, “With a little work, you can nudge your personality in a more positive direction.” If this is true, which direction would you like to nudge your personality?
Or is it better to practice self-compassion and love ourselves the way we are? To love what is.
Ah. Acceptance, which brings me to this question: Can We Change Our Personality, because I do struggle with how much to change and how much to accept. Maybe there’s a bridge.
Maybe that bridge is Forgiveness. For giving you and me a break. I do believe forgiveness is the answer to every problem. It’s my Code. I’ve written an entire trilogy trying to find forgiveness.
Choice. Everyday we are presented with so many choices. We have the freedom to choose, to change. And, although, there are consequences to the choices we make, we have forgiveness to keep moving forward.