Learn From The Characters
Your life is shaped and influenced by the people that you live
with, work with, and hang out with. People are definitely the
single biggest source of influence in each other's lives. If
you think of your life as a story, the people in your life are
the characters in the story. Just like you can learn from
characters in any good novel, you can learn many things from
the characters in your own story.
I met a woman once that kept a journal specifically about
things she was learning from the people, or characters, in her
life. She had just spent a summer backpacking in Europe and the
pages of her journal were filled with biographies of the
charcters that she met that summer. Some were more influential
than others, of course, but she was intentional about learning
from even characters that showed up in her story for just a few
minutes. I was so impressed by her commitment to learning from
living and I was inspired to create a similar journal just for
the characters in my own life.
Since starting my own characters journal, I have learned more
from people than I ever thought possible. I began the journal
by listing the main characters that were frequently a part of
my days. These included my family members, closest friends, and
co-workers that I interacted with often. I wanted to make this
list of main characters because sometimes the people we are
closest to are the hardest ones to be intentional about
learning from. By having a list in the front of my journal I
was reminded of them often.
My journey of learning from the characters in my life has been
simple and yet profound. I take a few minutes at the end of
each day to record things I have observed or learned from
others. Sometimes I see characteristics in other characters
that I want to make a part of my own character. Other times I
see things in people that I want to warn myself against ever
becoming. Whatever the case, I am careful to observe the world
around me for anything I might learn about living better. For
example, a few months ago I met a woman that had the loveliest
ability to tell engaging stories. I recorded her talent in my
characters journal that night with a special note that I want
to learn how to tell stories better. One day my father told me
a story about his childhood. My characters journal that night
told of a newfound respect I had gained for my father by
learning more about his life. Some of the best lessons of my
life have come from the main characters in my life. I would
never have learned or remembered many of these lessons without
keeping track of them in a characters journal.