{"id":76,"date":"2014-10-10T06:50:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T10:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=76"},"modified":"2014-10-10T03:35:50","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T07:35:50","slug":"week-4-got-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=76","title":{"rendered":"Week #4 – “Got Character?!”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Build<\/a>

Character Muscles (photo credit: Grace Church)<\/p><\/div>\n

Week #4 – “Got Character?!”<\/p>\n

There have been many words used to describe Rob in the month since his passing. \u00a0The word board at the funeral home was filled with over 150 words or phrases. \u00a0My parents have received hundreds of notes and cards, each filled with unique and loving descriptions of Rob from the many and varied corners of his life. \u00a0And more words have spilled out on his tribute page, on Facebook, and on this blog. \u00a0Hundreds of words — many different words — that all together assemble a complete picture not just of a human being, but the entirety of a soul.<\/p>\n

The first words I jotted down were the Sunday after Rob died. \u00a0I had been asked to prepare something for his funeral — but for the first time in a long while, I couldn’t string any thoughts\u00a0together. \u00a0So I just began writing down words that reminded me of Rob. \u00a0Shortly after,\u00a0I was standing outside talking to some people about him and a woman, standing a little too close by, uttered the words: “he was a real character”. \u00a0I asked if she knew him, but she didn’t. \u00a0She said those words just came to her. \u00a0I wrote them down…and here we are! \u00a0The first among a long list of words that are the fuel for this blog.<\/p>\n

Most of what I’ve learned about character I’ve learned through screenwriting. \u00a0Simply put: great characters make great movies. \u00a0This is because they are integrated: we understand quickly WHO they are, WHERE they come from, WHAT they do, and WHY they do it. \u00a0And because of that — good or bad — we are willing to follow them anywhere (at least for a few hours).<\/p>\n

The root of the word “character” literally means to scrape or scratch (as in, engrave). Figuratively it means “symbol or imprint on the soul” — or “the collection of qualities that define a person.” \u00a0(Thanks to etymology.com for this insight!) \u00a0Together each week we look at a different aspect of Rob’s unique character — not only to celebrate his life — but to gain insight into\u00a0our own lives, and learn to spread happyness to others in our path. \u00a0What about you? \u00a0Have you “Got Character?!”<\/p>\n

Your assignment for the weekend: Assemble a list of words that people might write about you. \u00a0If you’re really brave — you might even ask a few close friends for some ideas. \u00a0What are the collection of qualities that define you as a person? \u00a0WHO are you, WHERE do you come from, WHAT do you do, HOW do you behave, and WHY do you do it? \u00a0Remember, flaws and foibles are okay…that’s the stuff heroes are made of! \u00a0Write them down — all of them. \u00a0Now ask yourself — is this truly who you are? \u00a0Is this the mark of\u00a0your SOUL? \u00a0Are these your best character muscles? \u00a0If so — tell us what they are! \u00a0Flex ’em loud and proud! \u00a0If not — pick one quality you want to develop or improve and start exercising it this weekend!<\/span><\/p>\n

It is never too late to build good character! \u00a0How will you start today?<\/p>\n

Spread Happyness — and tell us about it in the comments!<\/p>\n

10\/10\/14 by Grace Church
\n<\/em>\u00a9 Grace Church<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #4 – “Got Character?!” There have been many words used to describe Rob in the month since his passing. \u00a0The word board at the funeral home was filled with over 150 words or phrases. \u00a0My parents have received hundreds of notes and cards, each filled with unique and loving descriptions of Rob from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}