Character is what you are in the dark

This quote was on our dressing table mirror for 10 years, until we renovated our house. I always read it as “Character is what, you are in the dark” . Which I understood as, if you do not know what character is, then you are in the dark.

For some reason, I thought of that quote again today. And typed it in google to see who the author was. While typing it, I read it as “Character is, what you are in the dark”. Which I understand it as, what you do when no one is watching you or when you are in difficult times, is what character is all about.

I guess one has to extract their own meaning from this wise saying. But to me, understanding it in a different way after so many years, is a bit amusing. Funny how time can make you see/think/read things differently.

Showing Up for Life

If I have to take one page out of the book, “Showing up for life” by Sr.Bill Gates, it is this:

Life is the ultimate teacher, but it is usually through experience and not scientific research that we discover its deeper lessons. We are all here for a single purpose: to grow in wisdom and learn to love. We can do this through losing as well as through winning, by having and by not having, by succeeding or by failing. All we need to do is to show up openhearted for class …. So fulfilling life’s purpose may depend more on how we play than what we are dealt. You have to be present to win.