Character Traits
      Character traits are a positive set of principles to live by.  The following positive traits are provided to illustrate concepts that can be incorporated into a person's daily life beginning in early childhood:

• Honesty - Telling the truth; never mislead or withhold key information in relationships of trust; 
  
• Courage - Doing the right thing in face of difficulty and following your conscience instead of the crowd.
• Demonstrate integrity - Stand up for your beliefs about right and wrong; be your best self; resist social pressure to do wrong. sincerity;
  
• Keeping promises - Always limit promises to those you KNOW you can keep; Your word should be your bond; Don't borrow money if you can't repay the obligation;  Always return what you borrow in a timely fashion.
• Loyalty - Stand by your family, friends, employers, community, and nation; Don't gossip about people. 
  
• Responsibility - Think before you act; Always consider consequences; Hold yourself accountable and own up to mistakes you make; Never attempt to shift the blame to others.
  
• Pursue excellence - Do your best and don't quit when the going gets tough.
• Be kind and caring - Be generosity and show compassion; Never be selfish or mean.
  
• Respect - Be courteous and respectful; judge all people on their merits; be tolerant, appreciative, and accepting of individual differences.
  
• Fairness and being nonjudgmental - Treat all people fairly always listen to others and try to understand what they are saying and feeling. Be open-minded and be willing to give people another chance for their first  offense (depends on the offense).
• Be a responsible citizen - Obey the law and respect authority; Exercise your right to vote; Serve willingly on jury panels; whenever possible, volunteer in various community projects;  Protect the environment by recycling and when possible make a "green" choice.
• Perseverance - Pursuing worthy objectives with determination and patience while exhibiting fortitude when confronted with failure.
• Self-discipline - Demonstrating hard work controlling your emotions, words, actions, impulses and desires. Giving your best in all situations.
  

Character Development
        We should always attempt to be a role model of positive character traits that demonstrate how these virtues are both good for the individual and for society. As defined by Dr. Thomas Lickona, the objective goodness of virtues is based on the fact that they:

• Affirm our human dignity
• Promote the well being and happiness of the individual
• Serve the common good
• Define our rights and obligations
• Meet the classical ethical tests of reversibility (Would you want to be treated this way?) and universal ability (Would you want all persons to act this way in a similar situation?).

 A Personality Makeover
      Hair color can be easily changed. Clothing sizes can quickly change with increases in weight, but like loosing weight takes much more time. It is possible to change your personality is you determine what others see you in a negative light. So how hard could it be to develop your own personality? The following is a partial list of ways to improve your image:

• Talk Less, Listen More  -  it is important to develop the habit of listening more and talking less. Let others do the talking and listening to them without perfunctory nodding of your head.
  
• Being the Class Clown  -  People love those who are fun to be around. However, you don't always want to be the life of the party or people will not take you serious when you want to make a point.
• Become more extroverted  -  Get out and meet people outside your comfort zone improves your chances of meeting someone new who shares your values.
• Expand your aware of the world - Keep up on current affairs provides a different perspective that will help to define you and how you relate to the rest of humanity.
  
• Impressing others - Very few people will be impressed by your exploits and exaggerations of various parts of your life.
  
• Be Supportive - Say a kind word to a perfect stranger and send a quick note to let colleague how much you appreciate them. Taking the time to offer encouragement and support costs very little, but can be a very rewarding experience.
  
• What Is Your Communication Style?  Effective communication is very important in our information intensive world. How you present yourself through verbal communication can have an major impact on your career and accomplishments.
  

      Your personal experiences shape your understanding of personal, business, social, and school relationships. If you have a difficult time understanding other people's motives then it will be more difficult for you to explore characters that feel or think differently than you do.

      The family environment and relationships experienced as a child provide a major influence on the relationships we form as we transition into adulthood.

Moral or Ethical Code
      Moral and ethical codes vary depending on a persons religious beliefs and country of origin.  The following are provided for illustrative purposes:

• Tapping a foot or "drumming" with fingers.
• Snapping fingers or cracking knuckles.
• Biting fingernails
• Greeting everyone with a "bear" hug or "bone crushing" handshake.
• Constant tossing of the head to rearrange their hair.
• Running fingers through hair.
• Blowing breath out through the mouth in exasperation
• Loud, audible sighs