[klokkasju]

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

My advice to you is to throw away any vague definition you use for and start becoming very specific and clear.

You've got me there! I admit I started this thread without having a clear definition of "character" and/or "personality" in mind. I was hoping against better knowledge there would pop up a sharp definition in the answers. And I definitely agree with you about how to think clearly and that most people don't. I always tear my hair when talking to friends of mine who don't study natural sciences and hence often even don't know what a definition IS.

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

even people you'd call "intelligent" don't do it [think clearly]... and yep, if I were you, I'd be asking me to define "intelligent"

I'm rather curious about how you know what kind of people I call intelligent? ..

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

That book [i.e. Now, Discover Your Strengths] will give you a base understanding about strengths and talents, and give you a language you can use to describe them (i.e. the various "talent themes" mentioned in the book)

So what do you mean by "strengths" and "talents"? .... ok, I know I should read the book. But honestly the table of contents doesn't look very attractive to me. Maybe that is due to my naive definition of strengths (=things/activities one is better at than most people around oneself) and talents(=things/activities one might be become better at than most people around oneself if one practices hard/often/long enough). So, I'll only have a look at the book, if I find it in one of the libraries available to me.

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

Another tip: if you think you understand something, try to write about it. To the degree that you can express it concisely and effectively is the degree you understand it. You may have an intuitive, subconscious grasp of something, but that won't help when you're communicating with people unless they have similar experience to you.

I'd even go further and say: If you try to understand something, write about it!
And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. In a way you could say that I abuse this forum for getting my thoughts about all this straight .

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

I read the neuro plasticity article and it resonates with my suspicion that thought can indeed change the brain to a certain degree, it's just that we're not really good at applying it (kind of like the LoA, etc).

i.e. we can change our personality (whatever it is precisely, in my opinion it is deeply anchored in our brain and - at least for the most part - a result of our brain structure/"wiring") if we want. Not within a blink of an eye, but with conscious effort.

So maybe my actual question was: what is (the/my/your definition of) personality?

I have got to think about this ...
klokkasju